Daniel Radcliffe Says He's 'Delighted' His Son Can Watch “Harry Potter” TV Series Without Him in It
Daniel Radcliffe Says He's 'Delighted' His Son Can Watch “Harry Potter” TV Series Without Him in It
Joyann JeffreyWed, March 4, 2026 at 6:18 PM UTC
0
Daniel Radcliffe and Dominic McLaughlinCredit: Bruce Glikas/WireImage; Aidan Monaghan / HBO -
Daniel Radcliffe says he's excited to see the new Harry Potter TV show on HBO Max
The actor says his toddler son would enjoy watching the program without him being in it
Radcliffe says it's long overdue for someone else to play Harry Potter seeing that audiences have already had "three Spider-Mans"
Daniel Radcliffe is ready to pass his wand down to a new generation.
On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Radcliffe talked about his excitement for the upcoming TV adaptation of Harry Potter, and said he's looking forward to see Dominic McLaughlin take on the role that made Radcliffe a star — especially because it means his 2-year-old son won't have to watch him on screen.
"I'm actually delighted that when my kid grows and is into Harry Potter, he can watch a version that is not me,” Radcliffe, 36, joked on the March 2 episode of the show. “I feel like watching it with your dad would be less cool. It would take you out of it."
"So, it's lovely, and it means that at some point there will be somebody else to answer all the Harry Potter questions and I can pass that on to them too," he added. "It's great!"
Daniel Radcliffe, (L) Emma Watson (M) and Rupert Grant (R) on the set of the film, 'Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire.'Credit: Murray Close/ Getty
— sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
The actor went on to note that he's excited to see someone else play Harry because it's long overdue.
"We've had three Spider-Mans in my lifetime so far," the actor joked. "If you look at a character like Sherlock Holmes, there were always going to be many, many iterations. So I'm very happy to see it be passed on to somebody else and best of luck to all of them."
HBO casts Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley in the new "Harry Potter" series.Credit: Courtesy of Aidan Monaghan/HBO
Radcliffe shares his 2-year-old son, whose name has not been revealed with his girlfriend Erin Darke. In a February interview with The New York Times, Radcliffe said he plans to keep his former Harry Potter role a secret from his kid for as long as possible.
Advertisement
“Does my son know who Harry Potter is? No, not yet," he said.
“Somebody gave me a DVD to sign recently, and so it was sitting on our kitchen table for a couple of days. And at one point, he was like, next to it and I was just like, ‘Who’s that?’ [to see] if he’d recognize me on the cover," he continued. "And he didn’t, which was great. For as long as I can just be his dad and he won’t know me as anything else, I will maintain that for as long as I can."
When Radcliffe learned that McLaughlin will be playing Harry in the HBO Max series, he sent him a note. Radcliffe revealed what he wrote in a November 2025 interview on Good Morning America.
"I just wanted to write to him to say, ‘I hope you have the best time, and an even better time than I did — I had a great time, but I hope you have an even better time,'" Radcliffe said. "And I do, I just see these pictures of him and the other kids and I just want to hug them."
He added, "They just seem so young. I just look at them and say, ‘Oh, it’s crazy I was doing that.’ But it’s also incredibly sweet and I hope they’re having a great time."
Warner Bros. Discovery first announced its plans for a new Harry Potter series in April 2023, with Bloomberg reporting that each season would be based on a single book, starting with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and ending with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
"We are delighted to give audiences the opportunity to discover Hogwarts in a whole new way," HBO and Max chairman and CEO Casey Bloys said in a press release.
Filming on the first season is already underway, though a premiere date has yet to be set.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
