Cillian Murphy finally speaks out on those Voldemort casting rumours for Harry Potter TV series

As he promotes the upcoming Peaky Blinders film, The Immortal Man, Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy has once again addressed the rumours that he will be playing Voldemort in the Harry Potter TV series - and it seems we've got a very clear answer.

Murphy has been rumoured to play the villain for some time, and despite having previously denied any involvement in the series, he hasn't managed to entirely shake the speculation.

However, when speaking with The Times, Murphy was asked whether he was taking on the Voldemort role, to which he responded: "I’m categorically not. Can you make that the headline?"

Murphy previously said he "didn't know anything about" the rumours of him playing the part, adding that it would be "really hard" to follow on from Ralph Fiennes's performance as the character in the previous film adaptations.

While his previous statements appeared to shoot down the idea that he had been cast, Fiennes muddied the waters somewhat by saying at a recent event that he believed Murphy had been cast already, and that he was a "very good choice".

Now, unless Murphy is misleading us, it appears Fiennes may have just read the same reports fans had, and jumped to the wrong conclusion.

Perhaps it shouldn't be any surprise that the role of Voldemort appears not to have been cast yet. After all, Fiennes didn't appear in the film series until the fourth instalment, The Goblet of Fire. That storyline will be tackled in the HBO series's fourth season, if the show's current plan is carried out.

The first season, which will adapt the first novel in the Harry Potter series, The Philosopher's Stone, is set to be released in 2027, with HBO boss Casey Bloys suggesting that it would be released "early" that year in a recent interview.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has faced backlash in some quarters due to her views on transgender rights. In 2020, she published a lengthy statement detailing her stance on sex and gender debates – the essay was criticised and disputed by LGBTQ+ charities including Stonewall.

Rowling has also shared her views on social media, including in a 2024 post on X (formerly Twitter), in which she insisted that “there are no trans kids” and opposed the idea that a child can be “born in the wrong body”.

In May 2025, Rowling set up the JK Rowling Women’s Fund, which describes itself as offering legal funding support to “individuals and organisations fighting to retain women’s sex-based rights”.

Harry Potter actors including Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson have distanced themselves from Rowling's views and have issued statements supporting the transgender community. Others, including Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter and Jim Broadbent, have defended the author from the criticism she has received.

The Harry Potter TV series will premiere in early 2027 on HBO Max.

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