The second season of HBO’s Harry Potter series has found three actors to fill three highly anticipated roles. Billy Barratt will portray the young Tom Riddle, while Lenny Rush will bring to life Dobby, the famous house-elf. Bonnie Hill, on the other hand, will be the new Ginny Weasley, replacing Gracie Cochrane after the character was recast. Barratt and Rush, in particular, are young and promising performers who have already demonstrated their talent.
Where Have We Already Seen Billy Barratt, Tom Riddle in Harry Potter 2?
The story of the second season will be based on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second novel in the J.K. Rowling saga, and will bring to screen several key characters for the events of the new season. In the role of the young Tom Riddle (who, as we know, is none other than the young Voldemort), we will see Billy Barratt, a still very young actor but by no means unknown. Barratt has already been part of the cast of several television productions. Among his more recent works is Invasion, the Apple TV sci-fi series, in which he played an important part. The actor has also appeared in the British series Gone and will join the cast of Life Is Strange, the upcoming Prime Video production. But the most significant recognition of his still-short career arrived in 2019. At just 13 years old, Barratt won an International Emmy Award for his performance in the BBC television film Responsible Child, becoming the youngest winner in the history of the International Emmy Awards. HBO’s choice is also particularly meaningful because Barratt is much closer in age to the character than the film’s performer. In the book Tom Riddle is 16, while Christian Coulson, who played him in the saga’s second film, was 23 when he was cast.
What the New Dobby Will Be Like in the Harry Potter Series
Even Lenny Rush is not a completely new face for television audiences. The young British actor, who is 17, is best known for the series Am I Being Unreasonable?, in which he starred opposite Daisy May Cooper. We will also soon see him in the cast of the sixth season of Slow Horses, the Apple TV series with Gary Oldman. The Dobby character was realized in CGI in the Warner Bros. films and voiced by Toby Jones. HBO has not yet revealed how he will be brought to the screen in the series: it is therefore unclear whether Dobby will be created again entirely in computer-generated imagery, whether motion capture will be used, or if Rush will portray the character with prosthetics and makeup. Rush’s casting nonetheless represents a markedly different approach from the films, given that the actor is only 17 years old.
Bonnie Hill Is the New Ginny Weasley
Among the new additions to the second season is Bonnie Hill, who will portray Ginny Weasley. In this case, the surprise is absent: the recasting had already been announced in recent months after Gracie Cochrane, who played Ginny in the first season, decided not to return for the second. Hill will therefore take on the role of Ron’s sister precisely at the moment when the character becomes more important in the story.
The second season of Harry Potter was officially greenlit by HBO in May, and filming will begin this fall. Before that, however, audiences will have to wait for the debut of the first season, scheduled for Christmas 2026 on HBO Max. The plan envisions one season per book of the saga, for a total production period of about 10 years.
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