Yahoo Lifestyle Fiona Shaw Has Funny Reaction to “Harry Potter” TV Series Reboot: 'How Dare You!' (Exclusive)
The original Aunt Petunia is weighing in on the upcoming reboot series from HBO
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Fiona Shaw at the "Bad Sisters" Season 2 New York PremiereFiona Shaw can hardly believe there's going to be a new version of Aunt Petunia onscreen soon.
The 66-year-old actress is perhaps best known to an entire generation as the grouchy aunt to Daniel Radcliffe's titular Harry Potter. Now that the beloved book-turned-movie series is being adapted once again, this time as a multi-season TV series for HBO, Shaw is a bit slack-jawed.
"How dare you!" she jokingly tells PEOPLE when asked how she feels about the reboot at the New York City premiere of Bad Sisters season 2.
Related: All About HBO's Harry Potter TV Series, from the Writer to the Director
On a more serious note, she says to the new cast, "I wish them well."
"I mean, can stories be retold? They must be retold over time," Shaw continues. "It seems to me no time [has passed] since we told it, but maybe it's [for] a whole new generation."
Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
arry Melling, Richard Griffiths, Fiona Shaw in 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' (2001)The Harry Potter TV series was first reported in 2023. At the time, PEOPLE confirmed that Warner Bros. Discovery was in talks for a "faithful adaptation" of J.K. Rowling's seven books, which is expected to be rolled out over the next 10 years.
Each season of the series will be "authentic to the original books and bring Harry Potter and these incredible adventures to new audiences around the world," per a press release.
Rowling is involved in the series and will serve as an executive producer on the project — despite her recent controversy for making anti-transgender comments — and provided an update on the show in June.
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
Richard Griffiths as Uncle Vernon Dursley, Harry Melling as Dudley Dursley and Fiona Shaw as Aunt Petunia Dursley in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)She revealed that Succession alums Francesa Gardiner and Mark Mylod have come onboard — Gardiner will write and executive produce, Mylod will executive produce and direct — and said in a post on X she was "truly thrilled" to have them.
"Both have a genuine passion for #HarryPotter and having read Francesca's pilot script and heard Mark's vision, I'm certain the TV show will more than live up to expectations," she wrote.
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In September, a casting call for the reboot series was released in Ireland and the U.K. as HBO began its search for children between the ages of 9 and 11 for the starring roles of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, who were originated by Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, respectively.
