HBO's Harry Potter Series Casts Its Sorting Hat and Hogwarts Ghosts

David Threlfall will voice the Sorting Hat in HBO's Harry Potter series. The talking hat is the object that sorts new pupils into their houses at Hogwarts school, and Variety reported the casting on 30 October 2026.

The same announcement fills in four more of the castle's residents. Leo Bill will play Nearly Headless Nick, the ghost of Gryffindor House. Andrew Brooke will play The Bloody Baron, the ghost of Slytherin House. Daniel Fearn will play The Fat Friar, the ghost of Hufflepuff House. Laura Smyth will play The Fat Lady, the portrait that guards the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, where students gather and sleep.

Hogwarts has four houses, and each one has its own ghost. Nearly Headless Nick, as his name suggests, has lost most of his head but still gets about the castle. The Bloody Baron is the stern ghost of Slytherin, and The Fat Friar keeps company with the Hufflepuff students.

The first season is based on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the first novel in J.K. Rowling's series. HBO and its streaming service, HBO Max, will debut it on December 25. Francesca Gardiner has written the season and is one of its executive producers, meaning she oversees the production on behalf of the company behind it. Mark Mylod will also executive produce and direct several episodes.

The second season will adapt Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second book in the series. No premiere date for that season was given in the announcement.

For viewers who grew up with the books or films, the casting puts faces and voices to the castle's familiar characters ahead of the first episode. The Sorting Hat, in particular, speaks for itself in every scene where it appears, so the choice of voice carries real weight. The series now has actors for its ghosts, its portrait and its hat, and the next casting news will show who fills the rest of the school.