HBO’s ‘Harry Potter’ Casts Moaning Myrtle for Season 2 Meet Molly Hewitt-Richards
Casting decisions for beloved side characters often spark intense scrutiny, particularly for roles that have made a lasting impression on fans despite limited screen time in the original films. Few Hogwarts characters exemplify this better than the perpetually gloomy ghost haunting one of the castle’s bathrooms.
HBO’s ongoing ‘Harry Potter‘ series is actively filling out its Season 2 cast as production progresses on the adaptation of ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.’ The season is currently being filmed back-to-back with Season 1 under the working title “Dark Train,” following the show’s greenlight in May and a writers’ room that has been operational since the previous November.
The latest addition to the expanding cast is Molly Hewitt-Richards, who will portray Moaning Myrtle in the upcoming season. This role holds significant importance for longtime fans, especially considering how memorably the character was depicted in the original film adaptation, where she became a key figure in one of Hogwarts’ more unusual mysteries.
Moaning Myrtle plays a crucial role in the atmosphere and plot of the Chamber of Secrets storyline, with her haunted bathroom serving as an essential location linked to the mystery of the Heir of Slytherin. The character’s mix of teenage melodrama and ghostly menace has made her one of the more quotable and recognizable figures from the books, despite her relatively limited screen time compared to the story’s central trio.
Hewitt-Richards takes on a role previously defined by actress Shirley Henderson, who famously portrayed the fourteen-year-old ghost in the original films while actually in her thirties at the time. Henderson has shared how a casting director specifically advised her to keep her real age a secret during the audition process, and how the character’s ghostly, ethereal presentation allowed her to convincingly play a role decades younger than herself.
This history adds an intriguing layer to how HBO’s version might reinterpret the character, especially given the show’s commitment to a faithful, episodic adaptation of Rowling’s source material. Unlike the two-hour feature film format of the original movies, Season 2’s television structure offers the show ample opportunity to expand on the atmospheric dread and school gossip surrounding Myrtle’s storyline in the books.
Hewitt-Richards joins a Season 2 cast that has been steadily growing in recent months, including Rafe Spall as Arthur Weasley, Billy Barratt as a young Tom Riddle, and Lenny Rush as the house-elf Dobby. The broader ensemble also features returning stars Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout, and Arabella Stanton as Harry, Ron, and Hermione, along with newer additions like Rory Wilmot as Neville Longbottom and Sienna Moosah as Lavender Brown.
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While HBO has yet to confirm an exact premiere date for Season 2, industry expectations currently suggest a potential release window in 2027. With the show filming its first two seasons simultaneously, fans may not have to wait too long after Season 1’s debut to see how this new adaptation approaches the Chamber of Secrets storyline, ghostly bathroom mystery included.
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