John Lithgow at the 2025 Vanity Fair Oscar party on March 2, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California.
Originally appeared on E! Online.
John Lithgow solemnly swears he’s up to no good.
Nearly a month after the "The Crown" alum confirmed the sorting hat had placed him in the role of Albus Dumbledore in HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter TV series, the 79-year-old shed some light on his enrollment at Hogwarts.
As Lithgow explained on the March 24 episode of the SmartLess podcast, “The overall concept of this entire reboot of Harry Potter is an entire season is devoted to a single novel.”
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But while the format has been determined, the Emmy winner revealed scheduling is still being decided. He doesn’t know how long the series, which will bring to life all seven books in the J.K. Rowling series, will take to film in the U.K.
“I honestly don’t know,” he continued. “I was over in England for eight months for 'The Crown' and barely came back [to the U.S.]. I think I may have come back once or twice. I imagine that I can come back much more.”
After all, Lithgow doesn’t think Dumbledore will appear very often in the show.
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“Dumbledore is kind of the nuclear weapon,” he shared. “He only goes on very, very occasionally. I don’t think it’s gonna be that hard a job, and, we’ll just go back and forth.”
And when it comes to his personal preparation for the role, he noted he is “behind everybody” when it comes to knowing about the book series and is currently “halfway through the second” novel.
In fact, before he agreed to star in the TV show, which will reimagine the world that originally included Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, the "Conclave" actor confessed he previously had some doubts.
“It was not an easy decision,” Lithgow told ScreenRant in an interview published Feb. 26, “because it’s going to define me for the last chapter of my life, I’m afraid. But I’m very excited.”
He continued, “Some wonderful people are turning their attention back to Harry Potter. That’s why it’s been such a hard decision. I’ll be about 87 years old at the wrap party, but I’ve said yes.”
PHOTOS: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Harry Potter
