Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is returning to the wizarding world to narrate the first chapter of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone.
The 30-year-old actor has recorded a video of himself reading Chapter One: The Boy Who Lived which will feature on JK Rowling’s Harry Potter At Home online hub, launched for children, parents, carers and teachers during the COVID-19 outbreak.
David Beckham, whose eight-year-old daughter Harper is a fan of the series, is also among the cast of narrators, and will be joined by Dakota Fanning and Eddie Redmayne, the latter who plays the protagonist in Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts films, set before the events of the Harry Potter books.
Stephen Fry, who narrated the original UK Harry Potter audiobooks, Claudia Kim, who appeared as Nagini in the Fantastic Beasts film series, and Noma Dumezweni, who starred as Hermione Granger in the original theatre run of Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, are also taking part.
The first chapter is being released today, Tuesday May 5 (you can watch it here), and all 17 chapters will be released between now and the middle of summer, with Radcliffe kicking off the series.
Videos will be posted weekly on the Harry Potter At Home website, with an audio-only version available for free on Spotify.
Rowling launched Harry Potter At Home, a digital hub hosted on WizardingWorld.com, in April, giving families access to free audiobooks and eBooks of Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone during the coronavirus lockdown.
Additional reporting by PA.
