“Ralph Fiennes, Who Played Voldemort in Harry Potter, Supports Cillian Murphy as the New Dark Lord: ‘A Wonderful Suggestion—I’d Be All In Favor!'”.hienca

 

Voldemort actor Ralph Fiennes is giving his blessing to Cillian Murphy to take over the role of the infamous “Harry Potter” villain should the “Oppenheimer” Oscar winner want in on HBO’s upcoming television series. Rumors have circulated online in recent weeks claiming Murphy is being considered for Voldemort. Fiennes was asked to respond during an interview on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live.”

“Cillian is a fantastic actor,” Fiennes said. “That’s a wonderful suggestion. I would be all in favor of Cillian. Yeah.”

Fiennes first appeared as Voldemort in the fourth “Harry Potter” film, 2005’s “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” and he returned for three additional movies — “Order of the Phoenix” and “Deathly Hallows” Part 1 and 2. A few years before HBO announced it was rebooting “Harry Potter” as a television series, Fiennes told Variety that he would definitely be up for playing He Who Shall Not Be Named again and there was “no question about it.”

Variety reported last month that “Bridge of Spies” Oscar winner Mark Rylance is being eyed by HBO to play Dumbledore in the “Harry Potter” series. Warner Bros. Television hadn’t yet entered into negotiations with the actor at the time but had reached out to gauge his interest in the project and his availability. No other casting information for the series has been reported on at this time.

 

While Fiennes has not said whether or not he’d return for the show, it would appear he’d have no issue coming back and working with J.K. Rowling again. The author is closely involved in the HBO series, despite the continued controversy over her beliefs on biological sex and trans people. Fiennes defended Rowling against backlash in October 2022.

“J.K. Rowling has written these great books about empowerment, about young children finding themselves as human beings,” Fiennes told The New York Times at the time. “It’s about how you become a better, stronger, more morally centered human being. The verbal abuse directed at her is disgusting, it’s appalling.”

Fiennes continued, “I mean, I can understand a viewpoint that might be angry at what she says about women. But it’s not some obscene, über-right-wing fascist. It’s just a woman saying, ‘I’m a woman and I feel I’m a woman and I want to be able to say that I’m a woman.’ And I understand where she’s coming from. Even though I’m not a woman.”

Watch Fiennes’ appearance on “Watch What Happens Live” in the video below.