HBO’s Harry Potter TV series has cast Rafe Spall as Arthur Weasley for Season 2, adding another familiar name to a production that is already filming in the UK. Molly Hewitt-Richards will play Moaning Myrtle, and Jasper Ambrose has been cast as Colin Creevey.
The new roles matter because they are being folded into an active production, not a project still waiting to begin. Filming is underway at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in the UK, which means these additions are being made as the second season takes shape rather than after the fact.
Spall steps into a role that was played by Mark Williams in the Harry Potter films. Arthur Weasley is a recurring figure in the wizarding world, a pure-blood wizard who works for the Ministry of Magic and is the father of seven children, including Ron. Spall’s credits include Sky’s Under Salt Marsh and Apple TV comedy Trying, and he now follows his father, Timothy Spall, into J.K. Rowling’s wizarding universe after Timothy Spall played Peter Pettigrew.
Hewitt-Richards arrives with credits of her own, including BritBox series Code of Silence and drama Casualty, while Ambrose is moving into a part that came with its own history. Colin Creevey first appeared in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was often seen with a camera, and did not return for the rest of the movie series after Hugh Mitchell played him in the 2002 film. The new casting brings that character back into the television version, even though the films left him behind.
HBO has been building the ensemble for Season 2 in layers. Kit Harington is set as Gilderoy Lockhart, Bonnie Hill as Ginny Weasley, Lenny Rush as Dobby and Billy Barratt as Tom Riddle, alongside returning cast members including Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley, John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape and Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid. Francesca Gardiner is writing and executive producing the series, with Mark Mylod executive producing and directing multiple episodes, while J.K. Rowling, Neil Blair, Ruth Kenley-Letts and David Heyman are also executive producers. The cast list is still growing, but the shape of Season 2 is already clear: HBO is building a larger, more complete version of the story as filming continues.
