Peter Serafinowicz boards Harry Potter series as ‘Peeves the Poltergeist’

WASHINGTON: Peter Serafinowicz has been cast as Peeves the Poltergeist in HBO’s “Harry Potter” series, reported Variety. The character, a cheeky ghost known for causing trouble in the Hogwarts halls, is a fan-favourite who didn’t appear in any of the original “Harry Potter” movies.

Serafinowicz recently appeared in last year’s live-action version of “How to Train Your Dragon.” He is also known for playing Edgar Covington in “Parks and Recreation” and Denarian Saal in 2014’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

According to the outlet, the actor and comedian also has a long list of voice acting and animation credits ranging from voicing Darth Maul in “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” to Big Daddy in “Sing” and “Sing 2.” HBO’s adaptation, which is reportedly planned as a seven-season spectacular with each season tackling one novel in J.K. Rowling’s epic book series, has always planned to “go deeper” than the films.

“The scope of the production, the detail, meticulousness of what they’re going through and what they’ve built takes theatrical to just a whole different level,” J B Perrette, WBD’s president of global streaming and games, said last year.

“And so when you think of the love of that franchise and what you can do in a series: can go deeper, can tell more of the story, can tell more of the pieces that you didn’t get to capture in a two-hour movie … I really think this is the streaming event of the decade,” said JB Perrette, according to Variety.

Dominic McLaughlin is set to play the titular Potter in the show, with Arabella Stanton and Alastair Stout stepping into the roles of Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. John Lithgow plays Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore while Janet McTeer is Professor McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu plays Snape and Nick Frost has been cast as Rubeus Hagrid

‘Harry Potter,’ which is written and executive produced by Francesca Gardiner, is set to launch this December exclusively on HBO and HBO Max. Season 2 is currently in production. (ANI)