Cillian Murphy Shuts Down Voldemort Rumours in HBO’s ‘Harry Potter’: Ralph Fiennes Is Too ‘Hard to Follow… Good Luck to Whoever’ Does

No, Cillian Murphy won’t be playing Voldemort in HBO‘s upcoming “Harry Potter” series.

Murphy dispelled the rumors during an appearance on Josh Horowitz’s “Happy Sad Confused” podcast on Thursday. He said that while his children have shown him the online chatter from fans who would like to see him play the “Harry Potter” villain, there was no truth to it. “I don’t know anything about that,” he said.

“Also, it’s just really hard to follow anything Ralph Fiennes does,” Murphy added, as Fiennes played the role in five of the eight “Harry Potter” movies. “The man is an absolute acting legend, so good luck to whoever’s gonna fill those shoes.” He also jokes that he’s “very attached” to his nose, as Voldemort’s nose is depicted as flat with narrow slits for nostrils.

“Cillian is a fantastic actor,” Fiennes said at the time. “That’s a wonderful suggestion. I would be all in favor of Cillian. Yeah.”

In the first movie, 2001’s “Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone,” Voldemort appears as a face on the back of the head of Professor Quirrell’s, played by Ian Hart, and is additionally voiced by Richard Bremmer in a flashback. In 2002’s “The Chamber of Secrets,” the second movie, Christian Coulson plays Voldemort in a teenage flashback. Voldemort doesn’t appear in the third movie, 2004’s “Prisoner of Azkaban.” But beginning with “The Goblet of Fire” in 2005 and ending with “The Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” the villain is played in adult form by Fiennes.

So far, the cast of HBO has found actors to play Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, Hagrid and more. See a full “Harry Potter” series cast guide here.