The Harry Potter cast fought the Dark Lord, flew broomsticks, and cast countless spells over eight of the best fantasy. Here’s what they all did next.
For a particular generation of film fans, the Harry Potter movies have (for lack of a better word) a kind of magic about them. Hogwarts and the Wizarding World leapt from the page to bring us into a world of joyous fantasy storytelling, with the help of the Harry Potter cast.
We love all the weird and wonderful Harry Potter characters, and it’s no exaggeration to say that these films have one of the best casts in cinematic history (Trust us, we’ve watched all the Harry Potter movies in order countless times). Everyone from the teachers and pupils to the Harry Potter villains knocked it out of the Quidditch pitch. As it’s been more than a decade since the main series ended, we thought it’d be good fun to find out what everybody did next.
Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter
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Like the titular Boy Who Lived, fame was thrust on Daniel Radcliffe at a young age when he appeared in the BBC’s 1999 adaptation of David Copperfield. Chris Columbus happened to catch the show while casting Potter and decided young Radcliffe was fit to lead the roster of Harry Potter characters. There was just one problem, Radcliffe’s parents didn’t want him to audition. Eventually, though, Colombus managed to convince them, and Radcliffe won the part.
While working on Potter, Radcliffe worked on the film December Boys and appeared in Ricky Gervais’s Extras. However, his theater work caught the public’s eye when he starred in Equus, which made headlines for featuring a full nude scene. Like Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, there was a brief period after the release of Goblet of Fire where it looked like he was done with Harry Potter, but he eventually committed to finishing the series.
After Potter, Radcliffe’s choice of projects has been eclectic, to say the least. He immediately followed up Deathly Hallows Part 2 with a cracking adaptation of The Woman in Black before appearing in Allen Ginsberg’s Kill Your Darlings. He’s basically worked solidly ever since and is impossible to pigeonhole.
Emma Watson as Hermione Granger
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Emma Watson dazzled the casting directors with her confidence when she auditioned for the role of Hermione. While all of the main trio were widely praised for their roles in the franchise’s early days, Watson bore the brunt of the critical acclaim, even winning the Young Artist Award for Leading Young Actress.
Watson would play Hermione across all eight movies; however, after the release of Goblet of Fire, she considered quitting the series. Eventually, she decided to stay after deciding she “couldn’t let the role go”.
Since Potter, she’s worked with greats like Darren Aronofsky on Noah and Greta Gerwig in the stunningly brilliant Little Women. Among a certain generation, though, she’s perhaps more famous now as one of the Disney princesses, Belle, in Beauty and the Beast.
Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley
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Rupert Grint effortlessly captured the easy-going charm of Harry Potter’s best friend, Ron Weasley. Grint’s path to Potter was particularly eccentric; he submitted a rap video to the casting team after seeing a report about the Potter movies on Newsround. The team apparently loved it and set up a meeting.
Like Watson, Grint’s performance was beloved by critics, and he won a cabinet’s worth of awards, including a Satellite Award in the category of Outstanding New Talent and a Young Artist Award for Most Promising Young Newcomer. Unlike Watson, Grint worked on other movies while filming Potter, including Thunderpants, Driving Lessons, and Cherry Bomb.
Since wrapping up Potter, he’s best known for his collaborations with M. Night Shyamalan in one of the best Apple TV shows, Servant, and one of 2023’s best thriller movies, Knock at the Cabin. Read our Knock at the Cabin review and see if he did a good job (he did).
Michael Gambon as Dumbledore
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Michael Gambon replaced Richard Harris as Dumbledore after Harris’s death in 2002. His first Potter film was Prisoner of Azkaban, but it was far from his first time on the silver screen.
Gambon made his film debut alongside Potter co-star Maggie Smith in Othello (1965). He was even asked to audition for the part of James Bond by producer Cubby Broccoli when George Lazenby decided to hang up his tuxedo.
While he didn’t get the 007 gig, he continued to work in show business, appearing in films like The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Love, Michael Mann’s The Insider, Toys (alongside Robin Williams), Gosford Park, Ali G in da House, and one of the best Tim Burton movies, Sleepy Hollow. Since getting the role of Dumbledore in 2004, he’s continued to work in film, the most notable of which is probably 2010’s The King’s Speech.
Gambon’s first love, though, was the theaters, where he made his name. It would be impossible to list every production Gambon’s appeared in. Instead, we’ll say he was nominated for thirteen Olivier Awards for his work, which tells you how incredibly impressive Gambon was as an actor. On September 28, 2023, it was sadly announced that Gambon had passed away peacefully at the age of 82.
Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort
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Ralph Fiennes managed to do the impossible and make the most evil wizard in a century even more frightening than his book incarnation. Before Fiennes was ‘He Who Must Not Be Named,’ he, like so many of his Potter colleagues, was a thespian of great renown who’d already made a name for himself playing a very different big-screen bad guy in Steven Spielberg‘s Schindler’s List.
He was subsequently offered roles in films like Strange Days, The Prince of Eygpt, The Avengers (no, not that one), Red Dragon, and Maid in Manhattan. In 2005, the same year he first played Voldemort, he lent his voice to Aardman for their first feature-length animated movie, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
During the Potter years, he continued to work, landing roles in In Bruges (perhaps his greatest), The Hurt Locker, and Clash of the Titans. Once the Potter party was over, he graduated to another British institution where he joined the James Bond movies as the new M. Outside of his franchise work, he’s probably best known these days for appearing in Wes Anderson‘s awards darling The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Alan Rickman as Severus Snape
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Alan Rickman needs no introduction. The man, who’s been described as one of the best actors of all time, made his name playing big-screen bad guys, a reputation cemented by his first two major onscreen roles, Hans Gruber in Die Hard and the Sheriff of Nottingham. Few other actors could have played the complex but cruel potions master Severus Snape.
Not all of his roles were villainous, however. While making Potter, he starred in rom-coms like Love Actually, and the comedy movie The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He worked with Tim Burton twice in Sweeney Todd and Alice and Wonderland.
Unfortunately, soon after completing work on his last live-action film, Eye in the Sky, Rickman suffered a stroke and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Rickman chose to keep his illness private and died in early January 2016. Potter fans led the tributes to Rickman, creating a makeshift memorial underneath the Platform 9¾ sign at King’s Cross station.
Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid
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Robbie Coltrane played Hogwarts’ Keeper of the Keys, Care of Magical Creatures professor, and one of Harry and the gang’s best friends, Rubeus Hagrid.
A veteran actor of the small and silver screen before the ink had even dried on the first Harry Potter book, Coltrane started his career making cameos on various comedy series. Eventually, he landed a recurring role on the sketch show Alfresco alongside Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, and Hugh Laurie.
Despite getting his start making people laugh, it was the role of Dr Eddie ‘Fitz’ Fitzgerald in the gritty and dark TV series Cracker that propelled him to stardom here in the UK. Coltrane would go on to star in not one but two James Bond movies as Valentin Zukovsky alongside the one and only Pierce Brosnan.
After playing Hagrid, Coltrane continued to work in film, appearing in pictures like Steven Soderbergh‘s Ocean’s 12, the Pixar movie Brave, and Emma Thompson’s Effie Gray. He also worked with his Potter co-star Julie Walters in the C4 limited series National Treasure which won him a BAFTA. Coltrane died in 2022, aged 72.
That’s it on the Harry Potter cast. If you need more (somehow), we’ve also got a guide breaking down everything we know about the upcoming Harry Potter TV series release date. You can also see if there’s a Harry Potter and the Cursed Child release date. We’ve also explained why we think Hermione overshadows Harry Potter in the movies.
Want to know more about the Wizarding World? Check out our guide explaining what Horcruxes are, as well as our round-up of the Harry Potter spells you need to know. We’ve also explained the secret inspiration behind the Deathly Hallows symbol. Or, leave this fantasy world for something else with our list of all the new movies coming in 2023.
The creator of the Harry Potter series, JK Rowling, has made a number of transphobic remarks on social media in recent years. If you’d like to learn more about transgender equality or lend your support, here are two charities we encourage you to visit: the National Center for Transgender Equality in the US, and Mermaids in the UK.
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