Published Oct 18, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT
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When you think of iconic moments from the Harry Potter series, you tend to think of the colorful duels, the battles between good and evil, but some of the best moments have come from simple, tense confrontations between classic characters. And by the sound of things, one of the most popular moments in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets has already been filmed.
Rafe Spall, who plays Arthur Weasley in HBO’s new Harry Potter series, has revealed that he’s already shared scenes with Johnny Flynn, who plays Lucius Malfoy, alongside Kit Harington, who portrays Gilderoy Lockhart. Speaking to Deadline while promoting his new series The Death of Sherlock Holmes, Spall recalled working with his fellow cast members, strongly suggesting that the production has already filmed the famous Flourish and Blotts sequence from Chamber of Secrets.
The actor made the revelation while discussing the experience of working on the series, particularly his relationship with Katherine Parkinson, who plays Molly Weasley.
“There are fabulous actors involved. Katherine Parkinson and I play the Weasley parents, and to my mind, she’s one of the best actors in the world. She’s phenomenal. The other day it was me, her, Kit Harington and Johnny Flynn. It was just fun.”
Spall is referring to the memorable confrontation between Flynn’s Lucius Malfoy and his own Arthur Weasley in the Diagon Alley bookshop, just ahead of the book signing by Harington’s Lockhart. It’s where we see the first real sign of the antipathy shown towards Muggles, and Muggle-borns from the Malfoys. Arthur and Lucius go at each other over their differing attitudes, while it’s also a key scene that features Lucius slipping Tom Riddle’s diary into Ginny Weasley’s books ahead of the new term.
Four worlds and four completely different ideas of what a good life looks like. This is where you belong, what it would ask of you, and what you would get back in
You belong somewhere old enough that the mountains have names and somebody can still tell you who gave them. Middle-earth is for people who think the right thing is worth doing even when it will not be finished in their lifetime.
You want the sea, a crew, and absolutely nobody telling you where you are allowed to go. The Grand Line is the world for people whose main ambition in life is finding out what is over there.
You would rather be feared and useful than liked and useless. The Continent is a world where the monsters are the straightforward part of the job and the people are where it all gets complicated.
You want the myths to be real and loose in the actual world, and you want to find out at about thirteen that you were never anywhere near as ordinary as everybody kept telling you.
Spall was also asked about the controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling, but Spall preferred to focus on the task at hand, stating that he wasn’t on social media and had nothing to contribute. There was also a particularly amusing moment involving Spall’s own family history with the franchise. His father, Timothy Spall, famously played Peter Pettigrew in the original movies, and Rafe revealed that he’d recently encountered Peter’s animagus form, Scabbers the rat, while filming.
“It’s funny that my dad played Ron’s rat and now I’m playing Arthur Weasley. The other day I was on set and Ron’s rat was there. I took a photograph next to it. If I had social media, I would post it.”
The new adaptation stars Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter, Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley and **Arabella Stanton **as Hermione Granger, alongside John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid, and Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape.
Harry Potter premieres on HBO and HBO Max in December 2026.
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Francisca Gardiner