Harry Potter director Chris Columbus reacts to Cillian Murphy casting rumour

Harry Potter director Chris Columbus would approve of Cillian Murphy being cast as the villain Lord Voldemort in the upcoming TV adaptation.

The Home Alone filmmaker, who directed the first two Harry Potter films, was asked to weigh in on fan speculation that the Oppenheimer actor may play He Who Must Not Be Named in the decade-long TV reboot.

"Well, Cillian is one of my favourite actors, so that would be amazing," he told People.

Voldemort was previously portrayed by Ralph Fiennes from the fourth film, 2006's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, until the concluding chapter, 2011's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2.

During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live in December, Fiennes also approved of Murphy's potential casting as Potter's evil nemesis.

"Cillian is a fantastic actor," he praised. "That's a wonderful suggestion. I would be all in favour of Cillian. Yeah."

Elsewhere in his interview with People, Columbus explained that the TV reboot will be able to cover more of J.K. Rowling's books than the films, noting that his features were two hours and 40 minutes long but still missed some plot points.

"I think it's a spectacular idea, because there's a certain restriction when you're making a film," Columbus shared. "The fact that they have the leisure of (multiple) episodes for each book, I think that's fantastic. You can get all the stuff in the series that we didn't have an opportunity to do... all these great scenes that we just couldn't put in the films."

He added that he "tried to get as much of the book in as possible" with his two films, 2001's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and 2002's Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

None of the cast has been officially announced for the series yet.