The Harry Potter series has its Dumbledore, and John Lithgow is going to get a steady paycheck for the next decade. Lithgow, who is no stranger to playing legendary Brits both real and fictional, recently appeared on the SmartLess podcast to discuss the role, and suggested that he didn’t think it would be a particular challenge.
“You know, Dumbledore, he’s kind of this nuclear weapon,” the actor said. “He only goes off very, very occasionally. And I don’t think it’s gonna be that hard a job.”
Lithgow said that he isn’t totally sure what the production schedule will look like yet, but added that he imagines it will be easier to travel home to the United States in between seasons than it was when he played Winston Churchill on The Crown, and lived in the U.K. almost uninterrupted for nearly a year.
“The logistics are a little bit scary,” Lithgow said. “I really did have to think hard about whether to take it on but I also thought, well, I’m about to turn 80 next year.”
“If this is indeed a seven or eight-year long job, it’s a wonderful way to grow old as an actor,” he added, “I mean, the alternative is to just be hauled out once a year to play an Alzheimer’s patient [with] an awful lot of weeping middle-aged children, you know.”
Lithgow also said that he wasn’t super familiar with the series before accepting the job, and is currently halfway through the second of the seven novels. Production on the series starts this summer, which means we’ll likely see his Dumbledore sometime in 2026.
