Warner Bros. has announced that casting on "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" has been completed. Production on the sixth installment of the "Harry Potter" franchise has begun, with the film targeted for a November 21, 2008 release. David Yates, who directed "Order of the Phoenix," is returning to direct based on an adapted screenplay by Steve Kloves.
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson are reprising their roles as young wizards Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, who are facing new challenges and dangers in the wake of Lord Voldemort’s return. They will be reunited with returning cast members, including Helena Bonham Carter, David Bradley, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Tom Felton, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Natalia Tena, Julie Walters and David Thewlis, as well as Evanna Lynch, Matthew Lewis and Bonnie Wright.
Two award-winning actors are joining the film’s all-star cast in their first Harry Potter film. Academy Award winner Jim Broadbent (“Iris,” “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe”) has been set to play Potions Professor Horace Slughorn, who gives Harry an old Potions textbook that had once belonged to the Half-Blood Prince, which proves invaluable to the young wizard. Award-winning actress Helen McCrory (“Becoming Jane,” “The Queen”) will play Narcissa Malfoy, mother to Draco Malfoy and sister to the evil Bellatrix Lestrange.
Additionally, several young newcomers will be making their feature film debuts in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” Jessie Cave has won the role of Lavender Brown, who has eyes for Ron Weasley. Nine-year-old Hero Fiennes Tiffin is playing the role of the young Tom Riddle at age 11, while 16-year-old Frank Dillane is playing the teenage Riddle, who is already on the path to becoming the evil Lord Voldemort.
In “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” Lord Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and Wizard worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching.