Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Celebrity | March 3, 2026
Cillian Murphy is a talented and attractive man who clearly has no interest in being famous. The Oscar winner is back on the promotional trail for the Peaky Blinders movie, and that means doing interviews, press junkets, and red carpet poses where every micro-expression risks being turned into a meme. My guy just wants to go back to Ireland and be unbothered by the world. At the very least, he wants people to stop asking him about Harry Potter.
For some reason, Murphy’s name keeps coming up as the assumed casting choice for Voldemort in HBO’s milking of a very tired cash cow. He’s never expressed interest in the role or the series, nor has there been any remotely reliable rumours of the Warner Bros. Discovery Paramount Corporation reaching out to him. Apparently, in one interview a while back, Ralph Fiennes, who played the part in the movies, suggested Murphy as a good possible replacement and the internet ran with it.
Well, Murphy finally put his foot down. After being asked about it in a recent interview with The Times, he bluntly ‘scoffed’, ‘I’m categorically not. Can you make that the headline?’ Good for you, Cillian! Let’s kill more of Joanne’s dreams. It’s good for us and the mould.
Personally, I think WB has been eager to keep the rumour mill going because they want to pretend that this series is attracting a starrier cast than it actually has. All offence intended to the likes of John Lithgow and Johnny Flynn, whose namby-pamby ‘but both sides’ faux-explanations for taking the money and pretending they’re not contributing to Rowling’s transphobic crusade have only further exposed their cravenness. Also, frankly, I’m always relieved when an actor I like isn’t actively transphobic or aligning themselves with HP. Did you see how many of our faves signed onto that audiobook? Heinous loser behaviour all round.
Cillian can be marked safe from jackassery. Just let him peak through those blinders and be the only man on the planet who can pull off that haircut.
