Harry Potter TV Series Goes Big as Janet McTeer Inherits Maggie Smith's Mantle
The Ozark star pulls back the curtain on braving a mammoth set and the white-hot pressure of stepping into an iconic role.
HBO is swinging big with its Harry Potter series, and Janet McTeer just gave a very human, slightly awestruck snapshot from inside Hogwarts. She is playing Professor Minerva McGonagall, which already comes with a carved-in-stone legacy, and she sounds both dazzled by the scale and clear-eyed about the pressure.
The view from inside Hogwarts
On a recent podcast, McTeer talked about the day-to-day of making this new, multi-season adaptation of J.K. Rowling's novels. The production is parked at Leavesden, with full-on sets and an army of kids and grown-ups in robes. It is, apparently, a lot.
"The sets are unbelievable, the costumes are unbelievable, the camerawork is unbelievable, the kids are unbelievable... I genuinely pinch myself every single day."
She described driving onto the lot where they have built out the studios and Hogwarts and trying not to get overwhelmed by the sheer size of it all.
Taking over from Maggie Smith
McTeer did not pretend the mantle is light. Maggie Smith's McGonagall looms large for her personally, and stepping into that role took a mindset shift: keep your head down, do the work, scene by scene.
"You just have to think, 'I'll just focus on this scene that I have to do,' because otherwise the pressure on your shoulders... is very hard."
She called Smith one of her icons and admitted it was scary at first, but the nerves settled once cameras rolled. They have been filming since summer, and she says she is feeling good now that she is in the rhythm.
What it says about the show
The way McTeer tells it, HBO is treating this like a flagship: massive builds, deep bench of adult witches and wizards, and a young cast that is already impressing the veterans. That tracks with the plan for a multi-season run that fully re-adapts the books.
- Janet McTeer is the new Professor Minerva McGonagall.
- She calls the production scale at Leavesden huge, from sets to costumes to camerawork.
- The series is a multi-season HBO adaptation of the original novels.
- McTeer felt the weight of following Maggie Smith, whom she calls an icon.
- Filming has been underway since summer, and she says she is now comfortably in the role.