Has Hero Fiennes Tiffin been cast in a new Lord Voldemort origin series by HBO Max? Viral post debunked

A recent X post claimed that HBO Max has allegedly announced that in the upcoming spin-off series about Harry Potter’s Tom Riddle becoming Lord Voldemort, actor Hero Fiennes Tiffin will play the lead role and the titular character. The post, uploaded on December 28, by X user @TheDailyHPotter, stated:

“HBO Max have announced that in the coming months a series about the life of Tom Riddle will begin recording that will show his whole life until he became Lord Voldemort.. It will star Hero Fiennes Tiffin….”

The post also had two pictures attached to it. One of the HBO Max logo and another of the After series actor. As of now, the post has garnered 973K views, 15iK comments, and 2.2K re-tweets.

However, the news is not true. The fake news about Tiffin being Voldemort has been debunked by X. The platform further shared a link to a Deadline article about the 2026 Harry Potter TV Series and other details about the project, which didn't contain Tiffin's name.

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No actor has been confirmed to portray Lord Voldemort in the upcoming Harry Potter series

The actor to portray Voldemort hasn't been decided yet (Image via Kate Green/Getty Images for Lionsgate)

As per the same Deadline report from December 7, filming for the Harry Potter television series is scheduled to start next summer. According to an open casting call notice, the actors to play Harry, Ron, and Hermione should be between the ages of 9 and 11 as of April 2025.

However, they didn't mention the alleged stand-alone series featuring Tom Riddle. They also didn't mention Hero Fiennes Tiffin's name who would allegedly play the character of the Dark Lord, as per the X post.

The rumor possibly started from the fact that Fiennes Tiffin portrayed a young Tom Riddle in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. However, when discussing the idea, HBO & Max Content Chairman and CEO Casey Bloys stated as per Deadline:

“This new Max Original series will dive deep into each of the iconic books that fans have continued to enjoy for all of these years.”

As per the report, although no one has been selected yet, new actors will possibly portray the series' central characters. Warner Bros. TV has started looking for kids from the UK and Ireland to play the three major wizards, Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

Reportedly, Gardiner disclosed that a staggering 32,000 young actors tried out for the main parts of Harry, Hermione, and Ron. Additionally, there have been rumors that some well-known actors are allegedly being considered for the parts of different Hogwarts professors. However, as of right now, no offers have been made.

The rumor further stated that Brett Goldstein (Ted Lasso, Shrinking), Sharon Horgan (Bad Sisters), Papa Essiedu (I May Destroy You), and Mark Strong are being considered for the parts of Hagrid, McGonagall, Snape, and Dumbledore, respectively. Notably, nothing has been officially confirmed by the creators.

Regarding the casting procedure, Channing Dungey, chairperson of Warner Bros Television stated:

“The tricky part is the first two books, where the kids are on the younger end, around 11 or 12.”

Bloys further said:

“We have been trying to be very close to the vest. We haven’t gone out to agencies. We have our own internal process where we’ve been thinking about people but we have not wanted to go out into the world. Now that the news is out there…we’ll start going out to the business.”

On the other hand, during an interview with Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen on December 2, Ralph Fiennes, who played Voldemort, opened up in response to a fan's preferred casting of Riddle in the series. The fan suggested the name of Cillian Murphy. About the same, he said:

"Cillian is a fantastic actor.. I actually think that's a wonderful, wonderful suggestion. I would be all in favor of Cillian..”

Nevertheless, Hero Fiennes Tiffin hasn’t said anything about the rumor of him allegedly playing Lord Voldemort.