The cast of the Harry Potter movies has been more or less synonymous with their magical fictitious roles ever since 2001. Hearing about alternative castings is always a surprise, including Nicholas Hoult potentially having been Harry. The 34-year-old has had plenty of great roles over the years and continues to have many more roles coming during our 2024 movie schedule. It’s no surprise he was up for the iconic role then, and based on this goofy clip, I think he still could for the upcoming Max series.
Hoult was recently on the Happy Sad Confused with Josh Horowitz podcast. The two chatted about his current projects, including his role as Lex Luthor in the upcoming Superman movie, premiering during our 2025 movie schedule. Horowitz also then confirmed with the Renfield star that he was high on the list to play Harry Potter over Daniel Radcliffe. He revealed that he’d had multiple callbacks but ultimately wasn’t ‘The Boy Who Lived’.
The specific segment of the Episode was shared on the podcaster’s IG account. The host reminded the Warm Bodies star that there are current casting auditions for the television version of the seven-book series. The two agreed humorously that Hoult could still pull off an eleven-year-old (minus the actor’s height) and he’d just have to don a scar and a pair of glasses–which then magically appeared on him. Check the moment out for yourself:
I don’t think either of them is wrong, with the filter, he absolutely gives off Potter vibes. Sure the height is an issue but special effects could easily take care of it. As Hoult said, he’s just waiting on the call. In all seriousness, for whatever reason it didn’t pan out, it’s nice to know that the Skins alum did end up working with Christopher Columbus on the upcoming Nosferatu.
The upcoming vampire monster movie is the complete opposite of his humorous ghoulish 2023 take with Nicolas Cage. Critics have already been heralding the Christmas Day movie as ‘horrifically brilliant’ and something not to miss. I’m glad to hear that it’s already getting great reception for the sake of the cast and being on set with a wild amount of live rats.
Before the vampiric counterpoint is released, you can catch Hoult in a few new movies released this year, including soon to be out (December 6th), The Order. The film is based on real events involving FBI agents and a white supremacist group from the 1980s. His other titles from 2024 include The Garfield Movie and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2.
As for what could’ve been in the OG Potter series, we’ll never know. It all worked out well and Radcliffe and Hoult have had incredibly successful careers since the conclusion of the eight-part movie franchise. If the latter does want to head in that direction for the iconic YA figure, he’s got my vote for the future television role, but I think he’s doing just fine without it.
If you’d like to watch Hoult in some streaming shows and movies you can watch Renfield with a Peacock subscription and The Great with a Hulu subscription.
