Earlier this month, word got out that John Lithgow was up for the role of Dumbledore in HBO’s Harry Potter series. Now, we know that the rumors are true thanks to Lithgow himself. And according to the veteran actor, it wasn’t an easy decision for him.
“It came as a total surprise to me,” said Lithgow during an interview with Screenrant. “I just got the phone call up at the Sundance Film Festival for yet another film, and it was not an easy decision because it’s going to define me for the last chapter of my life, I’m afraid.”
“I’m very excited,” added Lithgow. “Some wonderful people are turning their attention back to Harry Potter. That’s why it’s been such a hard decision. I’ll be about 87 years old at the wrap party, but I’ve said yes.”
Unlike his predecessors — Richard Harris, Michael Gambon, and Jude Law — Lithgow is an American actor who will be portraying one of the most famous wizards in recent British literary history. Having said that, Lithgow does have experience playing Brits, including an acclaimed turn as Winston Churchill in The Crown.
Lithgow has been a professional actor for over five decades, and his previous TV experience includes the NBC sitcom 3rd Rock From the Sun — in which he played an alien undercover as a human — as well as a more dramatic turn as the Trinity killer in Dexter season 4. More recently, Lithgow starred in FX’s The Old Man. Lithgow also had a prominent role in Conclave, and his upcoming films include Jimpa and The Rule of Jenny Pen.
The Harry Potter TV series is expected to premiere on HBO and Max in 2026.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.