HBO’s Harry Potter Series Finds Its Sorting Hat, Fat Lady, and Ghosts

Just in time for Halloween, HBO has revealed its casting for some key supporting characters in its Harry Potter TV adaptation. The show has already revealed who will be its main cast, so now it's time to see which actors will add some undead color to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Shameless and Fargo actor William H. Macy is lending his voice to the Sorting Hat, and Nearly Headless Nick will be played by Leo Bill, who you might recognize from Apple's Foundation or in any number of period dramas. Laura Smyth from Netflix's Baby Reindeer will take on the role of the Fat Lady. Meanwhile, Andrew Brooke (Andor, The Agency) is the Bloody Baron, and Daniel Fearn (Slow Horses) is the Fat Friar, according to Deadline.

We now have a pretty exhaustive cast list for the show, which will air on HBO on December 25. The big three, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, will be played by Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout, and Arabella Stanton, respectively, and John Lithgow will portray Albus Dumbledore, and Paapa Essidu joins as Severus Snape.

On the official Harry Potter podcast last month, producer David Heyman spoke about translating the Harry Potter story into an episodic show instead of a series of feature-length films. "It's a slightly different beast, because you're telling a story over eight hours that you took two and a half hours to tell, and you have act breaks," he explained. "At the end of an episode, you leave on a question as opposed to an answer often. Or how do you lead into the next episode? So it's a different finding that structure. Finding that structure is just different. But boy, is it exciting."

Last month we got our best look yet at the series' upcoming first season with a trailer, while the second season is already filming.