Alex Crockford played Charlie Weasley for about a second and a half. Now he has handed the part over.
“Aaaah. The moment has come to pass on the dragon-wrangling kit to the new guy!” Crockford wrote after HBO’s “Harry Potter” series cast Harry Gilby as Charlie, The Independent reported. “Congratulations sir, and I hope you get more screen time than I did (the record to beat is 1.5 seconds!)”
Crockford’s whole Charlie career was one Weasley family photo in “Prisoner of Azkaban,” Parade reported. He signed off his post “#jenesuispascharlieanymore.”
HBO announced the casting Oct. 27. Gilby, 25, joins Jasper Talbot as James Potter and Hannah Chinn as Lily Potter. All three are in Season 1, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” which premieres on HBO on Christmas Day.
Harry Gilby Starred in ‘Just Charlie’ at 14
Gilby was the young J.R.R. Tolkien in 2019’s “Tolkien” and was on BBC Two’s “The Last Kingdom.” But his first lead was “Just Charlie,” a British independent film from director Rebekah Fortune. He was 14. He played Charlie, a trans girl and a gifted footballer whose dad, a former player, has pinned his own dreams on her.
Gilby got a newcomer nomination at the 2017 British Independent Film Awards for it, Sky Sports reported in 2018. Scot Williams, who played the dad, told Sky Sports, “The script was so truthful, and it instantly moved me.” Films like it, he said, are there “to give voices to people who are otherwise unheard.”
Gilby hadn’t commented publicly on the HBO part as of Oct. 28.
J.K. Rowling’s Executive Producer Role on HBO’s ‘Harry Potter’
Rowling is an executive producer, and her comments about trans people drew backlash when that was announced. HBO defended her in 2024. “J. K. Rowling has a right to express her personal views,” the network said, TheWrap reported. It added that the series “will only benefit from her involvement.”
A BBC documentary on Rowling’s fame and controversies is in the works.
