The Harry Potter TV series from HBO has begun shooting and the first shots of two of the leading stars have been released to whet the muggles’ appetites.
Hagrid and Harry Potter himself have been shown in their full fantasy get-up. Or, from a more down-to-earth perspective, we’d had our first looks of Nick Frost and Dominic McLaughlin in costume.
Let’s take a closer look.
Dominic McLaughin as Harry Potter was the first of these photos released. But does he fit the description from the books better than Daniel Radcliffe?
“Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair and bright-green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Sellotape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose,” is how Potter is described in the first Harry Potter book.
Sure enough, McLaughlin does perhaps have a slightly thinner-looking face than Radcliffe. But it’s clear no-one is trying to rock the boat with this take on Harry. The new version looks an awful lot like Radcliffe did back in 2001.
Nick Frost, meanwhile, has been outed in his Hagrid garb. Comparing his version with the iconic portrayal of Hagrid by Robbie Coltrane, it’s immediately clear Frost is a good bit trimmer.
In 2023, Frost spoke about his weight loss, about wanting to be around for his kids, and his previous binge eating habits.
However, it’s also probably a good time to remember in the books Hagrid was mostly described as massive and massively bearded, not necessarily as fat. He’s a half-giant, one around 11ft in the books, portrayed as a rather smaller 8ft-ish man in the movies.
Without a bit more context we can’t really judge how huge Nick Frost’s Hagrid really is. What does seem clear, though, is the roles Frost has played in the past probably have a greater intersection with Hagrid’s character than Coltrane’s key roles.
Hagrid is silly and foolish — traits offset by his earnestness. It’s not far off the characters Frost played in Hot Fuzz, one of his most memorable roles.
The Harry Potter TV show is not due out until 2027, giving HBO plenty of time to drip-feed more character reveals.
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