Warner Bros
Beloved actor Ralph Fiennes, who starred as Voldemort in the Harry Potter movie franchise, has backed Cillian Murphy to take over the role of Voldemort in the upcoming HBO show.
Following his Academy Award win for Best Actor in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy has signed on to reprise his role as Tommy Shelby in a Peaky Blinders movie for Netflix and will be returning for two projects in the 28 Days franchise, titled 28 Years Later and 28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple. Murphy has also signed on to some smaller projects such as Small Things like These and Steve.
During a recent appearance on Andy Cohen’s Bravo talk show Watch What Happens Live!, promoting the release of his likely Best Picture-nominated film Conclave, the acclaimed English actor — who starred as Voldemort in five of the 8 Harry Potter movies — was asked by fans whether or not Murphy would be a fit for Voldemort, which is an idea that Fiennes loved.
“Cillian is a fantastic actor,” Fiennes said. “That’s a wonderful suggestion. I would be all in favor of Cillian. Yeah.”
The Harry Potter series at HBO is currently in pre-production and is targeting a 2026 release. Previous reports have indicated the network is eyeing Academy Award-winning actor Mark Rylance to play Professor Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts and the heroic rival of Voldemort (other than Potter, of course). HBO has also confirmed that controversial author J.K. Rowling is involved in the development of the series.
As for Fiennes, his starring role in the critically-acclaimed thriller Conclave has him poised to earn his third Academy Award nomination (his first two coming from Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List and Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient).
One of the most respected actors of his generation, Fiennes — in addition to deserving it on merit — could very well win the Oscar next year through the “He’s due” factor, which is something the Academy has been known to do over the decades.