There’s only room for one! Daniel Radcliffe, whose career catapulted after he landed the lead role in the Harry Potter blockbuster movies at the age of 11, is bracing himself for when someone else eventually fills his wizard shoes.
The British actor revealed on Thursday, Nov. 12, that he has no plans to play the Boy Who Lived again in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. As previously reported, a stage production of J.K. Rowling’s story will open as a two-part play in London next year.
“I’m getting asked a lot, ‘Would you play him?’ and I’m like, ‘No.’ Because I’ve done it,” Radcliffe, 26, told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live. “But it would be very weird to see someone else play him.”
Rowling, 50, who considers Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to be the eighth installment in the hit franchise, posted a synopsis of the story on the Pottermore website last month.
“It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children. While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted,” she penned. “As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.”
Radcliffe starred as Potter alongside Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), and Emma Watson (Hermione Granger). The trio appeared in all eight films over a decade from 2001 to 2011.