Will Ben Barnes join the Harry Potter series? The actor gives an answer

While the first season of HBO's Harry Potter is almost cast, fan casting continues for the future seasons. One of the most popular fan castings is that of Ben Barnes playing Sirius Black, Harry's godfather. We meet Black in the third book, Prisoner of Azkaban, but he is mentioned for the first time in the first book, Philosopher's Stone.

On Saturday, August 2, 2025, actor Ben Barnes attended the Tampa Bay Comic-Con. In that panel, the actor, who is known for playing Prince Caspian in the 2008 Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, was asked about joining the Harry Potter show as the titular character's godfather. To this question, the actor gave a more complicated answer.

What did Ben Barnes say about joining the upcoming Harry Potter show?

As mentioned before, The Punisher actor Ben Barnes interacted with fans at Tampa Bay Comic-Con. Even though Barnes might be mistaken for being American, he is British. Moreover, he is somewhat closer to Sirius Black in age, making Barnes an ideal choice for Sirius. Thus, when he was asked about the possibility of joining the Harry Potter show. To this, the actor pointed to his history with the Narnia franchise first:

“I found it very weird for a lot of years, because I didn't really understand what was happening. People would sort of ask me to sign things or — and I was like, ‘You know what? I was in Narnia.’”

Then, the British actor went on to touch upon how he felt about fans wanting him to play Sirius in the upcoming Wizarding World HBO series:

“So for a lot of years, I found it confusing. And then I went through a phase of being like, ‘Wait, I’ve been — people have sort of imagined me in this sort of old universe thing for like, 15 plus, 20 years now.’ And it's that kind of, like, it’s the commitment to it, which I really kind of value. And I think is really, really lovely.”

That being said, Barnes addressed the elephant in the room: Rowling and her actions. This part of the conversation is more somber than how this answer started:

“Like, you know, most people in the world found those stories and those movies when they came out, something for a bit, you know, really joyful. And obviously, in the last few years, I found it much more — a more difficult thing to talk about, because there’s obviously, like, a clash between some of the author's views on things and the way I see the world.”

While he did not address J. K. Rowling or her anti-queer activism, he made it clear that participating in the Harry Potter universe is not as celebratory as it used to be a decade ago:

“So I think that has made it, sadly, sort of tainted this sort of beautiful mythology of how I saw those stories. But it doesn't change the fact that it’s a really — such a cool character, and, you know, to be associated with a character like that from other people who do love it, it's like — it’s like a really beautiful thing, and it makes me happy.”

Thus, we can ascertain that, like countless queer fans of the franchise, he feels bittersweet about that iconic British wizarding world.

What do Ben Barnes' words mean?

While it remains unclear whether Barnes will join the HBO Harry Potter series or not, one thing is clear: Rowling's actions have tainted the legacy of her work. Her turning on fans who discovered themselves and supporting their oppression has hurt countless people across the world. This seems to paint the picture that HBO was finding it difficult to cast the series given the strong views held by the author.

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