John Lithgow is addressing some of the criticism to the actor playing Hogwarts headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, in the upcoming 'Harry Potter' TV series. Lithgow recently told BBC's 'The One Show' that he's "very excited" yet "very intimidated" to be the next actor to take on a role which has been played before in the 'Harry Potter' films by Richard Harris and Michael Gambon in the original films and by Jude Law in the 'Fantastic Beasts' franchise.
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00:00John Lithgow is addressing some of the criticism surrounding the actor playing Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore in the upcoming Harry Potter TV series.
00:10Lithgow recently told BBC's The One Show that he's very excited yet very intimidated to be the next actor to take on the role,
00:18which has been played before by Richard Harris and Michael Gambon in the original films and by Jude Law in the Fantastic Beasts franchise.
00:25I will be following the great Michael Gambon. I'm not an Englishman, although I've played one on TV.
00:31I remind everyone that I did play Winston Churchill on The Crown and did just fine.
00:36The Conclave actor continued to explain how there's been criticism of his casting because he's American and the previous actors are from the UK.
00:43It's an enormous thrill, but I know there were plenty of people appalled that an American should be hired to play the ultimate English wizard, but I will do my best.
00:51While it's long been rumored that Lithgow was going to be cast, last month he said the overall concept of this entire reboot of Harry Potter is an entire season devoted to a single novel.
01:02So he was preparing by reading up to halfway through the second novel at the time.
01:06Last week, HBO unveiled the official casting with Nick Frost as Hagrid, Janet McTeer as Professor McGonigal,
01:13Papa Asiedu as Severus Snape, Luke Thallen as Professor Quirrell, and Paul Whitehouse as Filch, the Hogwarts caretaker.
01:19For more on this story, head to THR.com.
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