A role in the next Harry Potter is in the cards for Emma Thompson, who'll play a fortune-telling teacher.
The Oscar-winning thesp of Sense & Sensibility and Remains of the Day has joined the cast of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as the ethereal and eccentric Professor of Divination, Sibyll Trelawney.
Renowned at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for her questionable predictions, readers of the book series' fifth installment, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, know that Trelawney's powers are likely more powerful than previously revealed. We'll say no more.
Reprising their roles for the third feature film adaptation are Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Emma Watson (Hermione), Rupert Grint (Ron), Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall), Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) and Alan Rickman (Professor Snape). Newbies cast alongside Thompson include Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, David Thewlis as Professor Lupin and Michael Gambon who replaces the late Richard Harris as Professor Dumbledore. Another recent addition is Oscar-winning actress Julie Christie, who has been cast as Madam Rosmerta, the barmaid at the Three Broomsticks pub.
While shooting on the movie began in February, Professor Trelawney's scenes were reportedly among the last to be shot as producers searched for the perfect actress to portray the somewhat dotty divination professor.
"I am very excited to work with Emma," helmer Alfonso Cuaron said in a statement released Friday. "She brings such life and spirit to the characters she portrays, it will be exciting to see her as Trelawney."
Harry Potter director turned producer Chris Columbus concurred, "We are all delighted to have such an accomplished and well respected actress join our incredibly talented cast."
The third theatrical installment of J.K. Rowling's best-selling series follows Harry, Ron and Hermione as they enter their third year at Hogwarts and investigate the mystery surrounding Azkaban escapee Sirius Black, who's suspected in the death of Harry's parents.
Directed by Y Tu Mama Tambien's Cuaron, the film is scheduled for release in June 2004.
Meanwhile, TV audiences will get to see Thompson before then. The British thesp, who got her big break in former hubby Kenneth Branagh's Henry V, will star opposite Meryl Streep and Al Pacino in HBO's miniseries Angels in America, slated to air in December.
Coincidentally, Branagh starred as Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor Gilderoy Lockhart in last year's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.