15 Celebrities Who Were Almost Cast in ‘Harry Potter’

Radcliffe will always be our Harry Potter, but let’s look at the other actors who were considered.

Steven Spielberg was set to cast Osment as Harry, but J.K. Rowling insisted on British actors.

Aiken was then almost Harry Potter, but lost the role because he’s American too.

We can see Hoult as Harry, but the filmmakers didn’t.

Apparently, Watson had some stiff competition when it came to playing Hermione.

Casting came down to Jones (you may know her as Madeline) and Watson. You know the rest.

Let’s see who Pattinson had to fight to play Edward Cullen Cedric Diggory.  

It’s a bird… it’s a plane… It’s Henry Cavill. He’s now known as Superman.

Gambon made a great Dumbledore, but when he passed, they tried to hire this next guy.

McKellen turned down the part because he felt Gambon wouldn’t approve of him.

Obviously, Coltrane made a great Hagrid, but…

We sure would have loved to see Willams play the part.

We’re so glad Rickman got to be part of the world of Harry Potter before his death.

Roth is such a great actor, he would also have been an interesting Snape.

Richardson defined Rita Skeeter and was exactly how we saw the character.

Pike would have brought a youthful quality to Rita Skeeter, but now we know her from Gone Girl.

Tena played Nymphadora with such cunning, it’s hard to imagine this next actress in the role.

You might recognize Friel as Erica on the TV show The Girlfriend Experience.

Branagh is both an amazing actor and director. His performance in Hamlet still holds up.

We think the filmmakers made the right choice by not casting Grant as Gilderoy Lockhart.

Macdonald played the Grey Lady with such an innocence, but we’d still like to see the next actress do it.

It’s rumored that Winslet’s agent turned down the role. Oh, if only he hadn’t!

Emma Thompson played the professor with such a wild quirkiness.

We have to admit we’d love to have seen Swinton as Sybill Trelawney.

McCrory was originally cast as Bellatrix Lestrange but dropped out when she became pregnant.

It’s rumored that Watts turned down the role Narcissa, but her agent says she was never asked.

Walters added zing to this powerful matriarch. You won’t believe who almost played her.

O’Donnell claims she was in talks with the director to play the part. Sure would have liked to see it.