Originally appeared on E! Online
Ralph Fiennes is looking to the future of He Who Must Not Be Named.
With a new "Harry Potter" television series hitting Max in 2026, the original Voldemort is pondering who might be able to take over the Dark Lord. And he was all in on the suggestion that it be Cillian Murphy.
"Cillian is a fantastic actor," Fiennes gushed on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen" Dec. 2 in response to a fan's preferred casting. "I actually think that's a wonderful, wonderful suggestion."
The 61-year-old added, "I would be all in favor of Cillian."
Still, it remains to be seen who will actually take over the iconic role that Fiennes played in five of the eight Harry Potter films, starting with 2005's "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and ending with 2011's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2."
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And while the "Conclave" star has previously expressed interest in reprising the part should the chance arise, taking on the role of Lord Voldemort in the first place was something he wasn't exactly thrilled about at the time.
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"I was ignorant of the delight of the books and what they offered young people," he explained on "CBS Sunday Morning" in October. "And in my ignorance I thought, 'Well, I'm not sure I want to do that.'"
Luckily, he mentioned the role to his sister Martha Fiennes who immediately urged him to accept.
"'They offered you Voldemort?'" Fiennes recalled Martha —whose son Hero Fiennes Tiffin ended up playing a younger version of his uncle's character in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"—telling him. "‘What, you're not gonna do it? You're mad. You're mad!'"
When he asked why, he explained she pointedly told him, "'Ralph, it's Voldemort. You don't understand,' she said. 'He's it. He's the whole antagonist—he is the one. The bad guy. The one. The one.' She was emphatic. And I said, 'Oh, OK.'"
And once he saw the design they had in mind for the iconic villain, he knew he'd made the right call. Plus, he was even able to find other ways to make the character wholly his own.
"I found little physicalities in the role," he told Newsweek in 2011, "and something always happened when I put those long, flowing robes on. That's when I felt Voldemort."
It also helped when he saw the kind of reaction he got from those around the set—especially children.
"I could see them looking at me anxiously," Fiennes remembered. "I once walked past the young child of a script supervisor, and he burst into tears. I felt very good about myself."
