‘Harry Potter’ HBO Series Casts Peter Serafinowicz as Peeves the Poltergeist (EXCLUSIVE)

Peter Serafinowicz has been cast as Peeves the Poltergeist in HBO’s “Harry Potter” series.

The character, a cheeky ghost known for causing trouble in the Hogwarts halls, is a fan-favorite who didn’t appear in any of the original “Harry Potter” movies.

Serafinowicz, who is repped by Curtis Brown Group, UTA, 3 Arts, and Peikoff Mahan, recently appeared in last year’s live-action version of “How to Train Your Dragon.” He is also known for playing Edgar Covington in “Parks and Recreation” and Denarian Saal in 2014’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

The actor and comedian also has a long list of voice acting and animation credits ranging from voicing Darth Maul in “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” to Big Daddy in “Sing” and “Sing 2.”

Fans will no doubt be thrilled to see Peeves finally portrayed on screen. In the original film series Peeves was set to be played by British comedian Rik Mayall, who died in 2014, before being cut due to time constraints. “I did a little bit of filming then I went home and got the money – significant – then a month later they said ‘Rik, sorry about this, you’re not in the film,’” Mayall once revealed in an interview. Despite being left on the cutting room floor, Mayall was offered tickets to the film’s opening night which he passed on to his children as he was busy shooting another project. “I hadn’t told my kids I wasn’t in it yet,” he recalled. “And they came back and said ‘It’s bloody good make-up. You didn’t look like yourself at all, dad, it’s really good’ — they thought I was playing Hagrid.”

HBO’s adaptation, which is reportedly planned as a seven-season spectacular with each season tackling one novel in J.K. Rowling’s epic book series, has always planned to “go deeper” than the films.

“The scope of the production, the detail, meticulousness of what they’re going through and what they’ve built takes theatrical to just a whole different level,” JB Perrette, WBD’s president of global streaming and games, said last year. “And so when you think of the love of that franchise and what you can do in a series: can go deeper, can tell more of the story, can tell more of the pieces that you didn’t get to capture in a two-hour movie … I really think this is the streaming event of the decade.”

Dominic McLaughlin is set to play the titular Potter in the show, with Arabella Stanton and Alastair Stout stepping into the roles of Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. John Lithgow plays Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore while Janet McTeer is Professor McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu plays Snape and Nick Frost has been cast as Rubeus Hagrid

“Harry Potter,” which is written and executive produced by Francesca Gardiner, is set to launch this December exclusively on HBO and HBO Max. Season 2 is currently in production.

Mark Mylod exec produces and directs multiple episodes of the series for HBO in association with Brontë Film and TV and Warner Bros. Television. J.K. Rowling, Neil Blair, and Ruth Kenley-Letts of Brontë Film and TV, and David Heyman of Heyday Films are executive producers.