Nick Frost, Paapa Essiedu, Janet McTeer and Paul Whitehouse will appear in the forthcoming Harry Potter TV series, US network HBO has confirmed.
Frost has been cast as Hagrid, McTeer will play Minerva McGonagall, and Essiedu will portray Severus Snape. All three were reported to be in talks with the network in recent weeks.

HBO have now formally confirmed their casting, and announced that Whitehouse, well known for the Fast Show and Harry & Paul, will play Argus Filch.

The network also confirmed John Lithgow’s announcement in February that he will play Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

The show is due to begin filming this summer, with the first series airing potentially as early as next year.

The actors playing Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger have not yet been cast.

HBO launched an open casting call for the three lead roles, which reportedly attracted more than 30,000 submissions.

Who are the confirmed actors?

• John Lithgow, who will play Dumbledore, recently starred in the Oscar-winning Conclave, and has also appeared in 3rd Rock from the Sun, Footloose and The Crown. He won an Olivier Award last week for playing Roald Dahl in stage play Giant, which soon transfers to the West End
• Paapa Essiedu, who will portray Hogwarts teacher Severus Snape, shot to fame in the TV series I May Destroy You, and has also appeared in Gangs of London and The Lazarus Project. Last year, he starred in The Outrun with Saoirse Ronan, and will appear in a new stage production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons in the West End later this year
• Janet McTeer, who has been cast as Professor McGonagall, has appeared in films including Wuthering Heights, Albert Nobbs and The Menu, as well as the TV series Ozark and Jessica Jones. Later this year, she will be seen in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
• Nick Frost, who will play the friendly half-giant Hagrid, is best known for appearing in comedy films Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End and Paul. His TV credits include Spaced and Into the Badlands, and he voices SM-33 in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
• Paul Whitehouse, who will play Argus Filch, appeared in the BBC sketch comedy series The Fast Show and opposite Harry Enfield in Harry & Paul. He also appears in Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, with Bob Mortimer, while his stage credits include Only Fools and Horses The Musical
• Luke Thallon, who will play Quirinus Quirrell, has appeared in stage productions including Patriots, Albion and Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt. He was most recently seen in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet, playing the titular role

Showrunner Francesca Gardiner and executive producer Mark Mylod said they were “delighted to have such extraordinary talent onboard, and we can’t wait to see them bring these beloved characters to new life”.

JK Rowling’s phenomenally successful series of novels has previously been adapted into a film franchise starring Daniel Radcliffe as Potter.

The TV series, however, will have more breathing space to explore the plot lines from the books without the time constraints of the film.

Rowling will serve as an executive producer on the TV series, which HBO has said will be a “faithful adaptation” of her books.

Further casting announcements are expected to follow soon, with rumours swirling about other actors reportedly in discussions about joining, including Cillian Murphy as a possible Voldermort.

(BBC News)

Madonna has said she and Sir Elton John have “buried the hatchet” and put an end to their decades-long feud.

Sir Elton, 78, has repeatedly accused Madonna of lip syncing over the years, prompting Madonna’s team – back in 2004 – to respond that she did not “spend her time trashing other artists”.

The music legends reconciled over the weekend after Madonna went to “confront” Sir Elton following his performance on Saturday Night Live (SNL), she wrote on Instagram.

“The first thing out of his mouth was ‘forgive me’, and the wall between us fell down,” she added.

The Vogue singer, 66, said she had been a fan of Sir Elton since she was a teenager.

“Seeing him perform when I was in high school changed the course of my life,” the post read.

“Over the decades it hurt me to know that someone I admired so much shared his dislike of me publicly as an artist. I didn’t understand it.”

The strain on the pair’s relationship has its roots in the noughties.

In 2004, Sir Elton ridiculed Madonna’s nomination in the Best Live Act category at the Q Awards, using explicit language.

He asked: “Since when has lip syncing been live?”

“Anyone who lip syncs in public on stage when you pay £75 to see them should be shot,” he continued.

Madonna’s team denied that she did not sing live.

Sir Elton doubled down on his criticism in the years that followed, and in 2012 said Madonna didn’t stand a “chance” of beating him to the Golden Globe for best original song.

After picking up the award for her song Masterpiece, Madonna told reporters she hoped Sir Elton would “speak to me for the next couple of years”.

“He’s been known to get mad at me.”

In her post on Monday, Madonna suggested the reconciliation may lead to a musical partnership.

“He told me [he] had written a song for me and he wanted to collaborate.”

In response, Sir Elton thanked Madonna for “forgiving me and my big mouth”.

The singer added that he was not proud of what he had said over the years, especially considering Madonna’s “ground-breaking work… paving the way for an entire generation of female artists to succeed and be true to themselves”.

“I’m increasingly distressed by all the divisiveness in our world at the moment,” he said in a comment on her Instagram post.

“By pulling together, I’m hopeful that we can make great things happen for those who really need support, and have a lot of fun doing it.”

(BBC News)

US President Donald Trump has granted TikTok a second 75-day extension to comply with a law that requires the hugely popular video app to either sell its US operation or face a ban in the country.

“We do not want TikTok to ‘go dark’,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the Deal.” The platform is currently owned by Chinese company ByteDance.

Trump’s first extension was granted after he took office in January and was set to expire on Saturday.

The social media platform, which says it has more than 170 million users in the US, must close in the US under a law passed by Congress – unless a buyer is found.

In a statement on Friday, ByteDance said it had been in discussion with the Trump administration, but “an agreement has not been executed”.

“There are key matters to be resolved. Any agreement will be subject to approval under Chinese law,” a spokesperson said.

Former US President Joe Biden’s administration had argued that TikTok could be used by China as a tool for spying and political manipulation.

Congress passed a bipartisan law last year that gave ByteDance six months to sell its controlling stake in TikTok or see the app blocked in the US.

Opponents of a ban have cited freedom of speech as a reason for keeping the platform open.

The new extension comes as the Trump administration tries to broker a deal to bring the social media platform under American ownership, and keep the popular app running in the US.

“The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Friday.

A TikTok deal was reportedly nearly finalised on Wednesday, but fell apart after Trump on the same day announced sweeping global tariffs, including on China.

ByteDance representatives contacted the White House to inform them China would no longer approve the deal unless negotiations on the tariffs could take place, a source familiar with the deal told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

The unnamed source said the plan had been for Trump to sign an order initiating a 120-day period for closing the deal, allowing time to finish paperwork and secure financing.

The agreement had won approval from existing investors, new investors, ByteDance, and the US government, but China backed out once Trump imposed the global import taxes, CBS reports.

The Chinese embassy in Washington DC said in a statement that it “opposed practices that violate the basic principles of the market economy”.

Watch: Can young Americans live without TikTok?

China faces a 54% aggregate tariff on goods imported into the US, and has retaliated with 34% in counter tariffs.

Reports suggest several potential buyers for TikTok have cropped up in recent days.

Amazon has put in a last-minute offer to the White House to acquire the platform, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS, though the firm has declined comment.

Several other potential buyers include billionaire Frank McCourt, together with Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary. Alexis Ohanian, who co-founded Reddit, has said he has joined Mr McCourt’s bid.

Computing giant Microsoft, private equity giant Blackstone, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and search engine Perplexity AI are also reportedly in the running for a stake.

Trump has said his administration was in touch with four separate groups interested in a potential TikTok deal, though he has not named them.

Vice-President JD Vance is spearheading the administration’s effort to find a buyer.

The president has also suggested the US could offer a deal where China agrees to approve a TikTok sale in exchange for relief from US tariffs on Chinese imports.

“We hope to continue working in Good Faith with China, who I understand are not very happy about our Reciprocal Tariffs,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

He added that the trade levies are “the most powerful economic tool, and every important to our national security”.

(BBC News)