HBO Harry Potter , IBTimes

When HBO announced an open casting call for the new Harry Potter television series, thousands of children across the UK and Ireland had the chance to imagine themselves becoming the next Harry, Hermione or Ron.

For children who love acting, it sounded like something out of a Harry Potter story itself. No famous surname required. No established career. Just a self-tape and a chance to be seen.

The casting call was open to children aged between nine and eleven who were residents of the UK or Ireland, and HBO later said that more than 30,000 young actors auditioned. The casting team also said they watched every audition.

Eventually, Dominic McLaughlin was chosen as Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley. HBO described the trio as new young talent.

But there is an interesting detail here.

They were not all complete unknowns.

Arabella Stanton already had significant West End experience. She had played Matilda in Matilda the Musical and later appeared in Starlight Express. Dominic McLaughlin also had acting training and some stage experience, while Alastair Stout was the closest thing to a complete newcomer, with the Harry Potter series becoming his major acting breakthrough.

This doesn’t mean the open casting was fake.

Far from it. The evidence suggests that thousands of children really did audition, and HBO has said that every audition was watched.

But it does raise a question that goes beyond Harry Potter.

What does “open casting” actually mean?

For a child with no agent, no West End experience and no professional acting background, an open casting call can feel like the door has suddenly been opened.

And technically, it has.

But getting through that door is another matter.

A child who has been acting for years, has stage experience, has access to professional training and perhaps has parents who understand the entertainment industry is starting from a very different place from a child who has never auditioned for anything before.

That doesn’t make the trained child less talented. It doesn’t make the casting unfair.

It simply means that “open to everyone” doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone arrives with the same chances, experience or support.

And perhaps that is something parents need to understand before encouraging their children to audition for enormous productions like this one.

The problem with the dream

There is nothing wrong with children dreaming big.

In fact, I love the idea of a child somewhere in Britain or Ireland filming an audition in their bedroom, sending it off and discovering months later that they have been chosen for the biggest television role of their life.

That is exactly what makes an open casting call so exciting.

But there is also something slightly uncomfortable about the way these announcements are presented.

When a production says it is searching for its next Harry, Ron and Hermione, thousands of families understandably hear: my child could be the next Harry Potter.

The reality is that thousands of children are competing for three extraordinarily important roles.

And the competition is not necessarily between three thousand children who all have exactly the same experience.

Some will already have agents. Some will have years of dance, drama or musical-theatre training. Some will have parents who know exactly how to film an audition tape and what casting directors are looking for.

Others will simply have a child who loves Harry Potter and thinks, “Why not me?”

That child should still be allowed to try.

The new Harry, Hermione and Ron

The final casting is fascinating precisely because it isn’t a simple story of established child stars taking the roles.

Dominic McLaughlin was described as a screen newcomer, while Alastair Stout had no previous acting credits. Arabella Stanton was the most experienced of the three, having already appeared on the West End.

So perhaps the open casting did exactly what it promised in one important respect: it brought new young actors into consideration and ultimately found three children who could carry one of the world’s best-known fictional friendships onto television.

And that is worth acknowledging.

But I still think we should be careful about what the words “open casting” make parents and children believe.

An open door is not the same thing as an equal starting line.

A little bit of Harry Potter magic

The original Harry Potter story is, after all, about an overlooked child discovering that he has a place in a world he never knew existed.

That is probably why the idea of an open casting call felt so magical.

For a few months, thousands of children could imagine that they might be the next Harry, Hermione or Ron.

Most were never going to be.

That isn’t a scandal. It is how casting works.

But perhaps the real lesson is a more ordinary one: give children the opportunity to try, without making them believe that an open audition means everyone has an equal shot at the role.

Sometimes the magic is not getting the part.

Sometimes it is simply being brave enough to audition.