You’d think being Harry Potter would come with an obligation to keep tabs on anything happening in the wizarding world. Apparently, Daniel Radcliffe didn’t get that memo. After spending a decade playing the world’s most famous young wizard, he’s not exactly clearing his schedule for HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series. In fact, he’s not even sure he’ll watch it.
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Speaking to the Associated Press at the New York premiere of Netflix’s animated feature Steps, Radcliffe was asked whether he planned to tune in to the new adaptation. His answer was refreshingly noncommittal.
“I don’t know if I will [watch], honestly,” Radcliffe said.
Before anyone starts imagining a bitter former Hogwarts student refusing to acknowledge the new headmaster, Radcliffe’s explanation is considerably less dramatic. He’s simply not much of a television viewer. In fact, he’s managed to miss some of the most celebrated shows of recent decades.
“I haven’t seen Breaking Bad. I haven’t seen Mad Men. I haven’t seen some of the like the real classics. So, you know, eight hours is a lot of anything to watch,” he said.
That’s quite a viewing confession in an era when everyone seems to have a prestige-TV recommendation ready to throw at you. Apparently, not even the prospect of revisiting Hogwarts is enough to make Radcliffe abandon his television habits. The man has already spent years in that castle. Perhaps he’s earned a little distance.
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If Radcliffe isn’t promising to watch the new series, he is at least making sure its young star gets something arguably more valuable: room to make the role his own.
Dominic McLaughlin, 12, has been cast as the next Harry Potter, and Radcliffe has made a conscious decision not to become the older actor dispensing wisdom from the sidelines. He isn’t planning to give the young newcomer a list of instructions for surviving Hogwarts, fame, or the inevitable media attention.
“I’m really truly in the business of not giving Dominic advice. He’s got it. He doesn’t need any advice from me,” Radcliffe said.
And his reasoning is particularly amusing. Radcliffe knows that anything he tells McLaughlin could easily become another talking point in the young actor’s interviews, potentially following him around long after the conversation has ended.
“If I say something to you, then the next interview people have with him, they’ll be like, ‘Oh, and Dan said you should do this,’ and I’m like, I don’t want to haunt this poor child through interviews.”
Honestly, that’s a fairly considerate way to approach handing over such a recognizable character. McLaughlin already has the enormous task of introducing a new version of Harry Potter to an audience that has spent years associating the role with Radcliffe. He doesn’t need his predecessor’s commentary becoming another part of the job description.
That doesn’t mean Radcliffe isn’t rooting for him. Quite the opposite. The actor made it clear that he expects McLaughlin to do wonderfully and is looking forward to meeting him eventually.
“So I have no advice for him. He’s going to be amazing, and you know, I hope that I will, I think I will, get to meet him someday and I’m very excited about that.”
It’s a rather lovely full-circle moment, even if Radcliffe isn’t particularly interested in revisiting the franchise through eight hours of television. He’s leaving the new Harry Potter to find his own footing rather than trying to recreate the experience he had years ago.
And who knows? Maybe he’ll eventually give the series a chance. But if the original boy wizard decides he’d rather spend those eight hours doing literally anything else, we’ll let him have that one.