Original Harry Potter Star Gives Warning To His HBO Replacement: "Hope You Get More Than 1.5 Seconds"

Warner Bros. Published Nov 1, 2026, 12:23 PM EST Ryan Northrup is a Senior Staff Writer on ScreenRant's Movie & TV News team, where he has authored nearly 5,000 articles, including features and reviews. A graduate of McMaster University, Ryan began his career in public relations before attending Vancouver Film School. There, he built lasting industry connections and optioned a feature film screenplay. Sign in to your ScreenRant account The Harry Potter TV show has added another to its cast, and the original star is speaking out. Based on the book series by J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potter movie franchise ran from 2001 to 2011, bringing to life Harry's struggle against the Dark Lord Voldemort. From showrunner Francesca Gardiner, HBO is now gearing up to retell this story in the Harry Potter TV show, with an entirely new cast set to play the franchise's familiar characters. Per THR, one new cast member brought on for the Harry Potter TV show is Harry Gilby as Charlie Weasley, and the franchise's original Charlie Weasley, Alex Crockford, has now addressed the news. Crockford shares an enthusiastic post of congratulations on X for the younger newcomer, joking that he hopes Gilby gets more than the 1.5 seconds of screen time he got as the Weasley family member. Crockford writes: Aaaah. The moment has come to pass on the dragon-wrangling kit to the new guy! Congratulations sir, and I hope you get more screen time than I did (the record to beat is 1.5 seconds!) #jenesuispascharlieanymore Charlie Weasley, of course, does not actually appear in person in any of the Harry Potter movies. The second-oldest son of Arthur and Molly Weasley appears very briefly in a photograph in the background of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), which is what Crockford is referring to in his post. Image: WBCredit: MovieStillsDBImage via MovieStillsDBPhotograph by Lara Cornell/HBO Though Charlie features more prominently in the books than in the movies, his role in Rowling's source material is still relatively minor overall. Charlie lives in Romania and works as a dragonologist, featuring in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to wrangle dragons for the First Task. Charlie is mentioned again in Order of the Phoenix and is revealed to be recruiting wizards to join the resistance group in Eastern Europe. In Rowling's final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the Weasley family member features in the flesh once more, appearing briefly at Bill and Fleur's wedding before making a triumphant return during the Battle of Hogwarts when he arrives with reinforcements. Gilby is essentially guaranteed to have a larger role in the Harry Potter TV show than Crockford had in the movies. The HBO series is set to more faithfully adapt Rowling's source material, using an elongated runtime to include all of the storylines and characters that had to be cut from the films. Audiences, then, will very likely be spending more time with this new take on Charlie, just as they will be with the show's other stars across the show's planned seven seasons. Dominic McLaughlin takes on the role of Harry from Daniel Radcliffe, with Arabella playing Hermione and Alastair Stout playing Ron. The Harry Potter TV show, which will include 8 episodes in season 1, also includes a supporting cast that includes John Lithgow, Nick Frost, Johnny Flynn, Janet McTeer, and Paapa Essiedu, among others, who will be bringing to life iconic figures from Rowling's source material. It remains to be seen just how much Charlie features in the upcoming series, but the show evidently has an opportunity to flesh out this character in a big way. The Harry Potter TV show premieres on HBO on December 25. Release Date 2026 - 2026 Showrunner Francisca Gardiner Directors Mark Mylod Cast Dominic McLaughlin Harry Potter Arabella Stanton Hermione Granger Alastair Stout Ron Weasley Janet McTeer Minerva McGonagall