Janet McTeer In Negotiations For Professor Minerva McGonagall

HBO’s “Harry Potter” TV series may have just found its Professor Minerva McGonagall, and in the tradition of the late, great Dame Maggie Smith, the character will be played by another decorated actress of stage and screen. Deadline reports that Janet McTeer, the two-time Oscar nominee and Tony Winner who was recently seen in FX’s “The Old Man,” is “in negotiations” to take on the role.

McTeer has been acting on screen since the 1980s, earning accolades for turns in movies like “Albert Nobbs” and “Tumbleweed” and taking memorable roles in Netflix’s “Ozark,” “Jessica Jones,” and more. Most recently, she appeared opposite Jeff Bridges in the aforementioned FX drama, and played the goddess Hera in the Greek pantheon series “Kaos.” McTeer also had a memorable part in 2022’s comedic horror hit “The Menu,” and earned an Emmy nod for playing the wife of Winston Churchill in the 2009 miniseries “Into the Storm.” She also has a Tony under her belt for her turn in “A Doll’s House” in the ’90s.

In short, McTeer is an actress who not only looks like a younger Smith (though she does, and once joked to The Guardian about playing her in a “Downton Abbey” reboot), but is also comparable in talent and gravitas. Despite original series author J.K. Rowling’s constant spewing of harmful and inaccurate transphobic rhetoric, the new Potterverse show still seems to be attracting a strong cast. John Lithgow has been confirmed as the new Albus Dumbledore, while Deadline has floated names like “Ted Lasso” star Brett Goldstein, “I May Destroy You” standout Paapa Essiedu, and “Bad Sisters” co-creator and star Sharon Horgan as potential cast members in rumored consideration for other roles.

Though the details of the show are under wraps, it’s been touted as a new adaptation of Rowling’s’ novels and it’s clear that HBO, which hired “Succession” alums Francesca Gardiner and Mark Mylod (who worked with McTeer on “The Menu”) to helm the series, is banking on it to be massive. As /Film’s Nina Starner has pointed out, though, there are several reasons the show could be a terrible idea, including the recent fizzling out of the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise and the fact that Rowling’s disturbing, pervasive ideologies have alienated a sizeable chunk of the fanbase. Fans who read the books as kids have also grown up and reassessed their quality, picking up on what seem to be anti-semitic, homophobic, and racist overtones in the text. Plus, there are eight perfectly good “Potter” movies already in existence, and several of the talented people who starred in them have publicly cut ties with Rowling in the years since the films wrapped.

Ready for it or not, the new “Harry Potter” series is headed to HBO, with a release date still to be announced.