Original Harry Potter Star Reveals the One Scene He Still Can’t Forget as the New Series Nears
As HBO readies its Harry Potter reboot, Timothy Spall—the man behind Wormtail—looks back at the franchise at a New York City Goodbye June screening, revealing the scene he still can’t shake.
With HBO's new Harry Potter series on the way, Timothy Spall took a quick trip back to his Wormtail days and singled out the scene that still delights him the most. Fair warning: it is gloriously gross.
The memory that stuck: Voldemort stew
At a Goodbye June screening in New York City, Spall, 68, told PEOPLE that his favorite moment as Peter Pettigrew comes in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, during Voldemort's resurrection. You remember the one: graveyard, cauldron, chaos.
"Peter is a weak character that wants to survive," Spall said, and yet the image of Pettigrew "cooking Lord Voldemort in a pot of stew and carrying it around like a hot, vile little baby" is his favorite from the films.
Yes, that mental picture is exactly as weird as it sounds, and Spall clearly relishes how wrong it is.
Why Wormtail's evil hits different
Spall unpacked why Pettigrew works: the character's nastiness comes from a place of fear. He called Wormtail's cruelty a byproduct of vulnerability, the kind of survival-mode behavior that curdles into something despicable. It's a sharp read on a character who rarely gets depth beyond rat-tail panic.
No advice for the new crew (and that's the point)
Asked what he would tell the reboot cast, Spall waved off the idea. "Well, I don't know. I've never given any advice to actors," he said, adding that each performer should make the role their own. His take: the material is classic and flexible, and there are plenty of ways to play it without chasing someone else's version.
Where the HBO reboot stands right now
- Production kicked off in July 2025; the series is aiming to launch in 2027 and is planned to run across multiple seasons.
- Cast so far: Dominic McLaughlin as Harry, Alastair Stout as Ron, Arabella Stanton as Hermione, Rory Wilmot as Neville, and Lox Pratt as Draco.
- Pettigrew has not been cast yet.
- Spall expects the show to hit big, telling Hindustan Times he "cannot imagine it being anything other than a huge success because the franchise has been such a phenomenon."
In other words: the cauldron is bubbling again, and even Wormtail approves. Sort of.