Thailand is far from Hogwarts, no doubt, but The White Lotus Season 3 star Jason Isaacs still has some thoughts on who should take over his role as Lucius Malfoy in HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter TV series.
“Meryl Streep,” the What If…? voice actor revealed as his choice to Variety in a new interview focused on The White Lotus.
“She can do anything, that woman. There’s literally no limit to what she can do.” Streep has actually played a man once before; she portrayed several characters in the HBO miniseries version of the epic play Angels in America, one of which was an elderly male rabbi. So, honestly, she could probably pull this off.
That said, Isaacs doesn’t have any advice for her, or anyone who might end up stepping into his role. “I wouldn’t have any advice at all. Why would I bother?” he said. “I know some of the people they’re casting already. They’re brilliant actors. It’s going to be fantastic, and the last thing they need is advice from some old fart like me.”
Isaacs debuted as Lucius Malfoy in the second Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and then reprised that role in the fourth film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, onward through to the final installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. As for this upcoming adaptation, there is only one confirmed casting choice at the time of publishing this story.
John Lithgow is set to star as Albus Dumbledore, originally played by Richard Harris and then Michael Gambon, in the upcoming series. The only other roles that seem close to being cast are professors Severus Snape, originally played by Alan Rickman, and Minerva McGonagall, originally played by Maggie Smith. Black Mirror star Paapa Essiedu is reportedly close to being cast as Snape, while Jessica Jones star Janet McTeer is allegedly close to being cast as McGonagall — but there are no official confirmations for those roles just yet.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
