Daniel Radcliffe Unsure If He'll Watch HBO Harry Potter Series
Original film star says eight hours is a lot of anything to watch and he has no advice for successor Dominic McLaughlin.
Daniel Radcliffe may not be among the millions of viewers when HBO's "Harry Potter" series premieres on Christmas Day. The actor who originated the role in eight Warner Bros. films said he is not sure he will tune in, despite his fondness for the franchise. "I don't know if I will, honestly," Radcliffe told the Associated Press. "I've been in a lot of Harry Potter already. Also, I don't watch any TV."
He added, "I haven't seen Breaking Bad. I haven't seen Mad Men. I haven't seen some of the real classics. Eight hours is a lot of anything to watch." The eight-episode first season adapts J.K. Rowling's first novel and stars Dominic McLaughlin as the new Harry Potter, alongside Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley. John Lithgow, Janet McTeer, Paapa Essiedu, and Nick Frost round out the adult cast.
Radcliffe also made clear he has no advice for McLaughlin. "I'm really truly in the business of not giving Dominic advice. He's got it. He doesn't need any advice from me," he said. "If I say something to you, then the next interview people have with him, they'll be like, 'Oh, and Dan said you should do this,' and I'm like, I don't want to haunt this poor child through interviews." He added, "So I have no advice for him. He's going to be amazing, and you know, I hope that I will, I think I will, get to meet him someday, and I'm very excited about that."
A Generational Handoff
Earlier this year, Radcliffe said he is delighted his son will have a Harry who is not his dad. "I'm actually delighted that when my kid grows and is into Harry Potter, he can watch a version that is not me," he said. "I feel like watching it with your dad would be less cool. It would take you out of it... And that 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."
HBO has already renewed the series for a second season, with Kit Harington as Gilderoy Lockhart, Bonnie Hill as Ginny Weasley, and Lenny Rush as Dobby among the new additions. The first season debuts Dec. 25.
For now, Radcliffe is focused on his own projects, including Netflix's animated feature "Steps" premiering Nov. 20, but Harry Potter fans can look forward to seeing McLaughlin's debut on HBO this Christmas. Whether Radcliffe tunes in remains to be seen, but he will always be the original Boy Who Lived to a generation.
