Colin Creevey Gets His Arc Back: Season 2's Big Statement

David: Takk for att du så med. Becca Hartwell: Welcome back to the Sorting Room. Season 1 hasn't even aired yet, and HBO is already filling out the Season 2 cast board. That's the story this week. Speaker 3: And not just anyone. Deadline broke the news that auditions are underway for Colin Creevey, the camera kid, Harry's number one fan. Becca Hartwell: Okay, so get this. Colin appears in six of the seven books. The films dropped him after Chamber of Secrets. HBO is bringing him all the way back. Back! Speaker 3: And here's the thing that matters—they're casting him now knowing his death at the Battle of Hogwarts is five or six seasons away—that's a long game. Becca Hartwell: Right, so we're going to dig into who Colin actually is in the books versus what the films did with him, and why that gap tells you everything about what this show is trying to be. Speaker 3: We've also got Ginny Weasley's recasting to talk about. Becca Hartwell: Mm-hmm. Speaker 3: Gracie Cochrane is out and that one has some real stakes. Inquiries regarding mistakes given how central Ginny is to the Chamber of Secrets. Becca Hartwell: Season two isn't just Colin and Ginny either. Dobby, Arthur Weasley, young Tom Riddle. Speaker 3: Yeah. Becca Hartwell: It's a full casting sprint. Speaker 3: Before season one is even on the air, which says something. Becca Hartwell: Follow the money, follow the momentum. We've got a prediction at the end about what HBO's pace here actually signals for season three. Speaker 3: And we're leaving listeners with an open question about which book characters deserve the loudest restoration campaign. Pain. Becca Hartwell: All right, let's get into it. Segment one right now. Okay, so get this. Season one of HBO's Harry Potter hasn't aired yet, Christmas Day premiere, and they're already out there auditioning kids for Season Two? Speaker 3: I mean, the audacity is kind of impressive, Right? Becca Hartwell: According to Deadline, casting directors Lucy Bevan and Emily Brockmann are out to agents right now searching for a young actor to play Colin Creevey. Auditions are underway, recalls are already happening. Speaker 3: Before a single episode of Season One has aired. Becca Hartwell: Wow. Speaker 3: That is not a show. Go, hedging its bets. Becca Hartwell: That's the thing, though: Follow the money here. HBO renewed before Season One ever dropped. Now they're casting Season Two characters in parallel. That's not caution; that's a machine. Speaker 3: And Colin Creevey is not the only one. Warner Bros. has described this as a ten year project covering all seven books, and the Season two search is enormous. New Ginny Weasley, Tom Riddle, Dobby, Arthur Weasley, and now... Now, Colin Creevey, five major characters being cast simultaneously! Becca Hartwell: Wait, wait, wait, wait. New Ginny? Speaker 3: Yeah. Gracie Cochrane, who played Ginny in Season one, is not coming back. Her family cited unforeseen circumstances. Deadline broke that last month. Becca Hartwell: So we haven't seen her in the role yet, and she's already leaving? Speaker 3: Right. And to be fair, with child actors on a decade long commitment, that kind of thing happens. But stack it on top of the rest and you see the picture. Becca Hartwell: Jumping in, production on Season Two starts in the UK this autumn. That's before Season One has had a single week of ratings. They are not waiting to see if this works. Speaker 3: That is the tell, because shows that are nervous don't cast five characters for the next season before the first one airs. That's confidence. Becca Hartwell: Or strategy, probably both. Showrunner Francesca Gardiner literally said in the statement: The fact that the production schedules for Season One and Season Two are overlapping. Speaker 3: Uh-huh. Becca Hartwell: That's not a bet, that's a pipeline. Speaker 3: And what I keep coming back to is why Colin specifically? Out of all the Season Two characters they could have led with, Why announce this one? Becca Hartwell: Right, and that's where the Colin Creevey casting gets interesting, because he's not a lead, he's not Tom Riddle, he's not Dobby. Speaker 3: He's a recurring kid with a camera who worships Harry Potter. The films have him for literally one movie and then just just dropped him. Becca Hartwell: Which is exactly the point. The fact that this show is casting him early, that they're treating him as a major character worth announcing, that's a signal about what kind of show they're building. Speaker 3: So the real question is, who is Colin Creevey in the books, and what did the films lose by cutting him loose after Chamber of Secrets? Becca Hartwell: So with all of that context on the casting scope, here's the thing, though: Who actually is Colin Creevey? Because if you only watch the films, the answer is basically "some kid with a camera who vanished. Speaker 3: Gone. Poof. One movie. Hugh Mitchell played him in Chamber of Secrets in 2002 and then nothing. No explanation, no goodbye. The official word was never given, but every indication it came down to a growth spurt. Becca Hartwell: Hmm. Speaker 3: Mitchell got taller, stopped looking like a tiny, wide-eyed first year, and that was kind of the whole point of the character. Becca Hartwell: So Steve Kloves essentially created Nigel, Nigel Wolpert, as a composite stand-in. Start showing up in Goblet of Fire, joins Dumbledore's Army, same basic function as Colin in the books. But here's the problem. Speaker 3: He had no arc. Becca Hartwell: None. Because in the books, Colin's arc is genuinely something. Walk me through it, Becca. Speaker 3: Okay, so receipts mode. Sorry. Chamber of Secrets: he's petrified by the Basilisk, camera melted in his hands-survives. Order of the Phoenix joins Dumbledore's Army alongside his younger brother, Dennis. Becca Hartwell: Uh huh. Speaker 3: He's not comic relief at that point; he's choosing a side. Becca Hartwell: And then Deathly Hallows. Speaker 3: And then Deathly Hallows. Voldemort takes over Hogwarts, Muggle-born students are expelled. Calder-Colin gets expelled. McGonagall tells the underage students to go home before the Battle of Hogwarts. Speaker 4: Yeah. Speaker 3: Colin leaves, Becca Hartwell: Wait for it. Speaker 3: and then he sneaks back in. Through the Room of Requirement, with Dumbledore's Army, underaged, expelled for his blood status, the son of a Muggle milkman, and he came back anyway. Becca Hartwell: And he's killed. Speaker 3: And Neville and Oliver Wood carry his body in from the grounds. Rowling writes: "He was tiny in death." That's the whole line. That's it. Becca Hartwell: Yeah. And the films? Nigel just doesn't show up at the end of Deathly Hallows Part Two because William Melling had also grown too tall by then. Speaker 5: Wow. Becca Hartwell: He told MuggleNet at LeakyCon they'd actually planned to use Nigel for the death scene, but it didn't work because he didn't look innocent enough anymore. Speaker 3: So the films lost Colin for practical reasons, not creative ones. A growth spurt. That's it." And they tried to patch it with Nigel, then lost Nigel for the same reason and just quietly dropped the whole arc entirely. Becca Hartwell: Which is why the HBO decision feels deliberate: they're not patching, they're going back to page one and casting a kid who will carry that specific story, knowing where it ends. Speaker 3: A milkman's son who gets expelled for his blood status and sneaks Speaker 6: back into Hogwarts. David: sneaks back to die for a cause that was never legally his to fight for. That's not a supporting character, that's the whole argument of the series in miniature. Becca Hartwell: Follow the money on that one and you find something darker, and that's exactly what makes the next question worth asking. So here's the thing, though: Casting Colin for season two is a philosophical statement as much as a production decision. HBO is building a character they already know won't die for roughly five or six more seasons. That's intentional architecture. David: And that's exactly what Francesca Gardiner's approach is about. Deadline did a deep profile on her, and the through-line is faithfulness to the books, not a loose adaptation. She's specifically on record about not sanitizing the darker material. Ariel, Colin, is a test of whether she means it. Becca Hartwell: Right, but here's my question, because I think it's worth asking. Does casting for a death scene years out risk making Colin feel pre-labeled? Like, does the audience clock him as the designated tragic Muggle-born from his first episode? David: Hmm. Okay, I see the concern, but I'd push back a little. The receipts show the books never played him that way. He's annoying, he's funny, he worships Harry to a slightly un- uncomfortable degree. The tragedy works because he's so fully alive first. Becca Hartwell: Fair point, which is actually why the Fred Weasley comparison matters so much here. David: Oh, this is where it gets good. Becca Hartwell: So, Fred, seven films of build-up, audiences watched him from age 11, and then Deathly Hallows Part 2 just cuts to him dead in the Great Hall. No death scene, no moment with George, you don't even know which twin. Which twin died if you hadn't read the book? David: The Percy reconciliation-that whole scene is just gone. In the book Fred dies laughing at Percy making a joke right after Percy rejoins the family after years of estrangement; it's unbearable specifically because of what came just before it. Becca Hartwell: Exactly; and the films didn't build that Fred-George-Percy triangle tightly enough across the series, so when the moment lands the emotional wiring isn't there. Isn't there.' Screen Rant called it one of the film's 'biggest emotional missteps,' and honestly, hard to argue. David: So "Colin" becomes the test case; if Gardiner can build six seasons of a kid who's enthusiastic and real and annoying in the best way, then his death at the Battle of Hogwarts hits the way Rowling intended, a Muggle-born milkman's son who came back when they could have stayed hidden. Becca Hartwell: And didn't have to. David: Right; that's the whole thing. Becca Hartwell: Follow the money on this one, though. Institutionally, HBO has to commit to a ten year arc before season one even aired. It errs. Casting Colin now isn't just a story choice, it's a bet that the show survives long enough to pay it off. David: No pressure, Dominic McLaughlin. Becca Hartwell: None at all. But you know what? That's the argument proving itself out. Colin, Ginny's recasting, Arthur Weasley, Dobby, every Season Two announcement is a character the films either cut or underserve. That's the pattern. David: And Ginny is genuinely a bigger story than people are treating it; Gracie Cochrane stepping away, citing unforeseen circumstances, and now whoever steps in has to carry the hardest arc in Chamber of Secrets, under Riddle's influence, the entire season. Becca Hartwell: Season two was stacking up to be a much harder production than season one, and we should get into exactly why. Okay, so the Ginny situation-that one's not getting the attention it deserves. David: No, it really isn't. Deadline broke it last month; Gracie Cochrane is out after season one due to unforeseen circumstances. No elaboration. Becca Hartwell: And people are treating it like a footnote, but Ginny isn't a footnote in Chamber of Secrets, she is Chamber of Secrets. David: She's the one under Riddle's influence the entire season-the diary arc runs through her the entire Speaker 6: year. David: In entire season! Whoever steps into that role has to carry the hardest psychological arc in the book. Becca Hartwell: And they're stepping into an established cast. David: Yeah. Becca Hartwell: You can't soft land Ginny-there's no easing her in. David: Right. The films honestly under used her for years, so the bar felt low, but in this version, season two is basically her story. Becca Hartwell: Noting, which connects to the Tom Riddle casting, because Riddle only works if Ginny's possession is credible. Those two performances are locked. LOCKED TOGETHER David: And here's where it gets interesting-HBO is keeping Riddle under wraps, but CBR reported that fans have been working a very specific theory: Dominic McLaughlin, who plays Harry, recently followed Owen Cooper on Instagram; Cooper followed back. Becca Hartwell: Owen Cooper, Adolescence. David: Exactly. Becca Hartwell: Wow! David: And look, this is unconfirmed fan speculation-CBR was clear on that-but the casting logic is genuinely compelling beyond just " Just he's good-his role in Adolescence, playing a teenager who is charming on the surface and deeply sinister-that's basically a rehearsal for Riddle's cold charisma. Becca Hartwell: The ability to make an audience trust someone they should fear-that's rare. David: And quickly he's sixteen; Riddle in Chamber of Secrets is exactly that age. The original films never had that; Christian Coulson was twenty three playing a teenager. Becca Hartwell: So the age authenticity alone is is already a correction the film's never made; file that away. David: Meanwhile, Arthur Weasley and Dobby, two more Season two debuts. Becca Hartwell: Arthur is the one I'm quietly excited about: Mark Williams was so good in the films that you forget Arthur is actually a hard character to calibrate: he has to be genuinely warm without being a punchline. David: He's the guy who thinks a rubber duck is a marvel of Muggle engineering. Becca Hartwell: Right, that's the line, and the show needs someone who plays that with actual wonder, not just Not just as a bit. David: Dobby is a different question entirely. Becca Hartwell: Mm-hmm. David: That's a performance capture decision, and whatever they choose tells us exactly how the show handles creature VFX at real budget scale going forward. Becca Hartwell: If they nail Dobby, every creature conversation from the next eight seasons changes. If they don't.... David: Well, we'll be talking about it for eight seasons. Becca Hartwell: Yeah, so that's the season two board right now. Ginny recast. Riddle under wraps Arthur and Dobby incoming And all of this casting is happening before season one has aired a single frame. David: Which is the thing that keeps sticking with me: HBO isn't waiting to see how season one lands; they already know what they have. Becca Hartwell: Yeah, and that confidence is actually what makes the bigger question interesting: if the show commits to this level of detail for every character, which other overlooked book characters finally get their due? David: That's the one to sit with. Becca Hartwell: So here's where I land on all of this: the Colin casting isn't just exciting news, it's a signal about production pace. David: Case: Season two starts filming in the UK this fall, according to Nerd Bot, and they're already deep in recalls. Season one hasn't aired yet. Becca Hartwell: And Warner Bros. has framed this as a ten year project. According to Yahoo, work on season two began early. That's not hedging. That's a show they already believe in. David: Here's the thing, though: if the casting pace holds, call and recast, call in and recalls, Tom Riddle and Dobby's still coming. I'd put real money on the first season three hints dropping within six months of the Christmas premiere. They're not waiting to see if the audience shows up. Becca Hartwell: The machine's already running. David: Exactly-and if Colin gets the full arc-six books, "Battle of Hogwarts," all of it-that's the template, which means other characters the films abandoned for time are suddenly on the table. Becca Hartwell: Okay, so this is my question for everyone listening: Dean Thomas. David: Oh, say more! Becca Hartwell: J.K. Rowling had a whole subplot drafted for him-his father was a wizard killed by Death Eaters. Dean never knew-she told Chris Columbus and he was apparently taken aback by how much backstory she had for what he considered a background character. A background character in Gryffindor's own dormitory. David: Right. Becca Hartwell: And the films gave him what, a kiss with Ginny and no lines and half plot boy? Real compelling arc. David: Real compelling arc. Becca Hartwell: So that's the campaign I'm starting today: Dean Thomas in season four, give him the story Rowling actually wrote! David: Mmm, I'm half with you. My version of this question is Dennis Creevey. If Colin is in season two and the show runs the full distance, Dennis shows up in season four by the books, and then you have a brother watching Colin die at Hogwarts. That's brutal in the best way. Becca Hartwell: Yeah, that one hits. David: The films had zero version of that, zero. And that's the whole argument for this show in one image. Becca Hartwell: That's where I keep coming back to: these aren't just characters the films cut for time, they're emotional connective tissue the films never bothered to build. David: Follow the money on the storytelling, and HBO put it in the right place. Becca Hartwell: All right, listeners, Dean Thomas or Dennis Creevey, who's your pick for the character the show absolutely has to restore? Or, we want Speaker 3: Yeah. Becca Hartwell: to hear it. David: Drop it somewhere we can see it. We are definitely reading those. All right, that's a wrap on this one, and honestly, the Colin Creevey casting news was the perfect lens for everything we covered today. Becca Hartwell: Right? Because it's not just about one kid with a camera. Deadline confirmed HBO is casting five major season two characters simultaneously before season one is even aired. That's a production machine running at full speed. David: And the Fred Weasley argument said it all for me. You can't stick a landing six seasons from now if you don't plant the seed today. That's exactly what this casting signals. Becca Hartwell: The receipts are there. And honestly, the open question we left you with about Dean Thomas Jean Thomas and Dennis Creevey, I want to hear what you all think. David: Same. Come find us on social, tag us at TheSortingRoom, tell us which cut character deserves the loudest campaign for restoration. Becca Hartwell: Follow us wherever you listen. Reviews genuinely help this show reach more fans. David: We'll be back next week. Thanks for sorting with us. Becca Hartwell: See you in the next one.