Gary Oldman, who played Sirius Black in the Warner Bros. Harry Potter films, recently spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the upcoming HBO Harry Potter television adaptation. In the interview, he said that he thinks the series will be “more satisfying” than the original films.
“We had to cut a lot, and still we could only get the films down to, like, three hours,” Oldman said to EW. “I believe [the TV series is] gonna do it pretty much word-for-word, which I think, as a viewer, would be more satisfying.”
Oldman said that “a lot of character details was sacrificed” in the films so that they didn’t exceed the traditional two and a half hour runtime. Despite this, Oldman told EW that he’s proud and grateful for his work in the films, “because it is such a phenomenon, the like of which I don’t think you’re ever gonna see again.”
“When you think of that initial cast, someone in the story who doesn’t get a lot of credit anymore is Chris Columbus, who set the world up and cast it,” Oldman added. “We were extraordinarily lucky to have those people come back again, and again, and again, and literally grow into those roles.”
Oldman first appeared in the Harry Potter franchise in the 2004 film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, returning in 2005 for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and later in the 2007 and 2011 films. While he told EW that he still gets asked to sign photographs of Sirius Black, he doesn’t often look back on his time as a wizard.
“I haven’t really looked back much at all,” he said. “You do look at things like old work… it’s old work. You just don’t revisit it.”
Although HBO has yet to announce who will play Oldman’s movie character, Sirius Black, the series will star Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter, Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley and Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger. According to Variety, HBO held auditions for over 32,000 children to play the role of Harry.
“There is nothing special about Harry Potter — or so his Aunt Petunia tells him,” the series logline reads. “But when a mysterious letter of admission to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry arrives, it opens the door to a hidden world of magic, friendship and adventure. Yet behind Hogwarts’ enchanted walls lie dark secrets. Harry must find the courage to prove himself against the darkest wizard of all.”
HBO’s adaptation of the Wizarding World will premiere on Christmas Day on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max.