HBO’s ‘Harry Potter’ Star Nick Frost Says He Will ‘Never’ Copy Robbie Coltrane’s Performance as Hagrid, But Will Be ‘Respectful to the Subject Matter’: ‘I’m Really Aware of What Went Before Me’

Nick Frost will remain faithful to the performance of the late Robbie Coltrane when playing Rubeus Hagrid in the highly anticipated HBO “Harry Potter” series. But don’t expect him to be an exact copy.

In a recent interview with Collider, Frost discussed how Coltrane, who played Hagrid across all eight of the original “Harry Potter” films, will influence his take on the Hogwarts groundskeeper in HBO’s upcoming “Harry Potter” TV adaptation. Frost said he is “really aware of what went before” him in terms of Coltrane’s “amazing performance,” but made it clear he is “never” going to copy his work.

“I’m going to try and do something, not ‘different,’ I think you have to be respectful to the subject matter, but within that, there’s scope for minutia,” Frost explained. “I always read Hagrid as he’s like a lovely, lost, violent, funny, warm child. I think the beauty of being able to do a book a season means I get to explore that a lot more, and I can’t wait.”

Other cast members for HBO’s “Harry Potter” include Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley, John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, Luke Thallon as Quirinus Quirrell and Paul Whitehouse as Argus Filch.

Francesca Gardiner serves as showrunner while Mark Mylod of “Succession” serves as director. The series is executive produced by “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling, Neil Blair, Ruth Kenley-Letts of Brontë Film and TV and David Heyman of Heyday Films.

Each of the series’ seven books will make up an entire season of the show, giving Mylod and Gardiner a chance to expand on the established stories without unraveling the source material.