James McAvoy Nearly Played a Young Voldemort in ‘Harry Potter’

James McAvoy almost played a young version of the infamous Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter , the actor revealed in a recent interview this week.

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Speaking on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused Podcast , McAvoy said that he was “nearly in Harry Potter,” turning down the role of Tom Riddle in the early films because of how much time it would’ve required.

“It was right at the beginning of my career, I auditioned for it, they wanted to put me and 10 other actors on a retainer so they could hold us and keep us to choose later,” he said. “They offered quite a lot of money, it was like 40,000 pounds or something like that. I wouldn’t be able to do any work for about seven months.”

McAvoy consulted with his agent about the prospect, who quickly shot it down, advising him to use the time to take on other roles. The Tom Riddle character played a major role in Chamber of Secrets, the second book and movie in the franchise. Readers learn much about the young, ambitious wizard in Slytherin before he became known as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. As is later revealed in the series, the entire phrase “I Am Lord Voldemort” is an anagram for Tom Marvolo Riddle.

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McAvoy wound up taking a much smaller theatre role at the time instead, but he doesn’t seem bothered about the choice today. “It was part of the making of me,” he said.

The actor clearly had the range for a menacing role like Riddle, as evidenced for his parts in psychological thrillers like Split and the upcoming Speak No Evil. Christian Coulson went on to portray Riddle in Chamber of Secrets , while Ralph Fiennes played Lord Voldemort in the later films. McAvoy wasn’t the only future star who considered the role; Eddie Redmayne, who’d later feature in the Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts franchise, also auditioned for the part.

Harry Potter remains one of the most popular franchises in entertainment, despite backlash around the books’ author J.K. Rowling over her controversial views and attacks on transgender people. Warner Bros. Discovery is developing a new Harry Potter tv show set to release in 2026.

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