15 actors from "Harry Potter" who were replaced during the franchise (17 photos)

Eight films based on seven Harry Potter books by JK Rowling were filmed over 10 years - from 2001 to 2011.





During this time, the franchise changed four directors, but, fortunately, with a few exceptions, retained the actors playing the roles of the main characters. For example, you all probably know that Michael Gambon replaced Richard Harris in the role of Albus Dumbledore, starting with the third part.

However, with regard to the great variety of minor and episodic characters, there was almost a staff turnover in this series of films. Some replacements were caused by the fact that the filmmakers did not yet know what role JK Rowling would assign to some characters in future parts. Therefore, in the first parts they did not bother too much with casting, and only then, as new books appeared, they realized that the artists they had initially chosen would not be suitable for performing the complicated version of their characters.

However, there are also replacements in the franchise that are quite difficult to explain, because the characters changed too radically - for example, they were light-skinned and became dark-skinned and vice versa. Let's look at which actors were changed in Potter (not including Fantastic Beasts) in secret from all of us, and in some places no one noticed anything.

Fat lady, portrait-entrance to the Gryffindor common room



Elizabeth Spriggs in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Dawn French in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Lavender Brown





Kathleen Coley in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Jennifer Smith in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Jessie Cave in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and all other parts.

Angelina Johnson, Gryffindor student, classmate of Harry Potter



Daniel Tabor in the first three parts and Tiana Benjamin in the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Tom, owner of the Leaky Cauldron Inn



Derek Deadman in the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Jim Tavare in the film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Why exactly an elderly man with the appearance of a classic resident of the magical world suddenly turned into the Hunchback of Notre Dame is the main mystery of the recast of the franchise’s minor characters.

Katie Bell, Gryffindor student, huntress of the house Quidditch team



Emily Dale in the first two parts and Georgina Leonidas in the last three parts.

Elena Kogtevran



Nina Young in the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Kelly Macdonald in the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Part 2".

Griphook, the goblin from Gringotts Bank



Verne Troyer in The Philosopher's Stone and Warwick Davis in the last two parts.

Mr and Mrs Granger, Hermione's parents



Tom Knight and Heather Bleasdale in Chamber of Secrets and Ian Kelly and Michelle Fairley in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Part 1".

Pansy Parkinson, mischievous Slytherin student



Genevieve Gaunt in Prisoner of Azkaban and Scarlett Byrne in the last three parts.

Bill Weasley



Richard Fish in a newspaper photograph in Prisoner of Azkaban (topmost) and Domhnall Gleeson in the last two parts.

Parvati Patil



Sitara Shah in Prisoner of Azkaban and Shefali Chowdhury in three subsequent parts, including Goblet of Fire, where Parvati took part in the Yule Ball opposite Harry Potter.

Elphias Doge, classmate of Albus Dumbledore and member of the Order of the Phoenix



Peter Cartray in Order of the Phoenix and David Ryall in Deathly Hallows. Part 1".

Augusta Longbottom, legendary grandmother of Neville Longbottom



Leila Hoffman in The Philosopher's Stone and Ninette Finch in The Deathly Hallows. Part 2" (scenes with it were cut out).

Aberforth Dumbledore



Jim McManus in Order of the Phoenix and Ciarán Hinds in Deathly Hallows. Part 2".

Bonus: Gellert Grindelwald



Michael Byrne in the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Part 1" and Johnny Depp in the first two parts of the Potter spin-off "Fantastic Beasts".

Bonus 2: Professor Filius Flitwick's image change



In all the films, Warwick Davis played the spell teacher (in the last films he combined this role with the goblin Griphook), but starting with The Prisoner of Azkaban, Flitwick's appearance changed dramatically.

In what cases do you think the original choice of actors was better? Or were they all replaced for good reason and they only improved the franchise?