Daniel Radcliffe writes a sweet letter to HBO’s new young Harry Potter lead

Dubai: Daniel Radcliffe has done something rather lovely, he's reached out to the kid taking over his most iconic role. The actor revealed he sent a letter to Dominic McLaughlin, who's been cast as Harry Potter in HBO's upcoming TV series reboot.

Passing the wand

Speaking on Good Morning America, Radcliffe explained that whilst he doesn't think every new Harry Potter needs to contact him, he wanted to reach out to McLaughlin after hearing about the casting. The 11-year-old sent back "a very sweet note" in return.

"I don't want to be a spectre in the life of these children, but I just wanted to write to him to say, 'I hope you have the best time, and an even better time than I did – I had a great time, but I hope you have an even better time,'" Radcliffe said.

It's a touching gesture, especially considering Radcliffe was exactly the same age when he started filming the first Harry Potter movie back in 2001. He went on to play the role across eight films until 2011, essentially growing up on screen.

The cast look so young

Looking at photos of the new cast, Radcliffe admitted he just wants to hug them all. "They just seem so young," he said. "I just look at them and say, 'Oh, it's crazy I was doing that at that age.' But it's also incredibly sweet and I hope they're having a great time."

McLaughlin will star alongside Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley. All three are relative newcomers – McLaughlin appeared in Sky comedy Grow, Stanton played Matilda in the West End musical, and Stout has no prior acting credits. They beat out more than 30,000 children who auditioned for the roles.

The young cast also includes Lox Pratt as Draco Malfoy, Rory Wilmot as Neville Longbottom, and Amos Kitson as Dudley Dursley, among others. They'll be working alongside some serious acting talent – John Lithgow as Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Snape, and Nick Frost as Hagrid.

A decade-long journey

Filming is currently underway at Warner Bros Studios Leavesden near Watford, with the series set to launch in 2027. But here's the thing, the entire production is expected to take 10 years to complete. The plan is to film one series for each of J.K. Rowling's seven books, which means these kids are in for quite the journey.

Warner Bros has even built a temporary school at the studios so the young actors can keep up with their real education whilst attending Hogwarts on screen. Talk about life imitating art.