Harry Potter Audible Drops Goblet of Fire With New Harry, Ron, Hermione

A new trio of students are stepping into Hogwarts.

Audible‘s “Harry Potter” audiobooks are growing more mature with the fourth novel, “The Goblet of Fire,” and so are Harry, Ron and Hermione. With the magical series growing darker at its midpoint, Jaxon Knopf, Rhys Mulligan and Nina Barker-Francis are putting on their Gryffindor robes and stepping in for young actors Frankie Treadaway, Max Lester and Arabella Stanton.

The three actors voice Harry, Ron and Hermione from “Goblet of Fire,” released Tuesday by Audible, through “The Deathly Hallows.” They’re three of the most recognizable characters in fantasy (and almost all of fiction), and major roles for Knopf, Mulligan and Barker-Francis’ early careers. At 16, Knopf is the youngest of the trio and taking classes for musical theater, singing, acting and dancing — and in true Harry fashion, he joins our Zoom call from his principal’s office. Mulligan, 18, is also in school and chats from a sound-proof study booth after leaving a lecture early. Barker-Francis is out of school and has already had roles in shows like “House of the Dragon,” “The Power” and more.

All three were already “Harry Potter” fans from watching the movies, reading the books and listening to the Stephen Fry-narrated audiobooks. Now they’re stepping into the recording booths themselves — more than 160 hours for Knopf alone recording Harry’s lines. With Variety, the three stars explain finding their voices for Harry, Ron and Hermione, their favorite scenes to record from the final four books and the hardest tongue-twisting words.

For these audiobooks, you don’t necessarily have to look like the character to nail the part, but had anyone ever told you that you sounded like Harry, Ron or Hermione?

Barker-Francis: I wish I had but I don’t think I’d ever heard that.

Knopf: The thing is, Nina, I really think your voice is so suited for audio. It’s really smooth and sweet and really expressive.

Mulligan: You’ve got me beat in pronunciation, so that’s why I was gonna say you do sound perfectly like how Hermione is described.

Barker-Francis: Thank you, that really took a lot of effort. I am not well spoken in any way. Arabella, who plays the younger Hermione, has a beautiful voice. She’s so well spoken, so articulate. They played me a little bit of her Hermione when I first started. We kind of had to echo a little bit the tone or the rhythm of the younger trio, just to make sure for the listener it’s as seamless a transition as possible.

How did you each find your speaking voice for your character? Is it very similar to your normal voice or did you have to play around with it?

Mulligan: For me, it was the whole West Country accent and having a twang of West Country. I don’t obviously have a West Country accent, but I tried my hardest and I think I did well. There’s obviously very West Country, and there’s a spectrum slider. To portray the emotion of Ron Weasley while juggling the West Country accent as well, a lot of preparation went behind it. My vocal coach was amazing. She helped out for all of the Weasley family. We basically had a whole family together and she was our teacher.

Knopf: I don’t really change my personal voice. It’s mostly my own voice, but I think the difference is it’s a lot more expressive. Because it’s audio, you’re trying to show those emotions through your voice on its own. I think my voice became more expressive, and my dynamics, my pitch and tone changed to adapt to the situation in the book. I think my voice and Frankie Treadway, who played the younger Harry, are very similar just naturally. The casting there was brilliant, because the crossover from the book three to book four is going to be really clean.

Mulligan: I was talking to Max, who is younger Ron — it’s weird, because some things he’s doing are things I would be doing if I were his age. I could never really see the resemblance because physically we don’t look anything alike at all. He’s got blonde hair. I’ve got brown hair. But when we’re playing the characters, and I’m listening back to what I’m saying and how he’s saying it, it makes sense as the character. So that was quite nice. Hearing it back was probably the most rewarding thing.

Barker-Francis: I was also focused on just looking at who Hermione is, and she’s very always thinking and figuring things out. So I always wanted to make sure that there was always a bit of a weight or an urgency to her voice to highlight to the listener just how switched on she is all the time. The biggest challenge for me was she says so much at once. Everything is a bit of an essay. I think trying to get those chunks in one go was quite a challenge.

How long did all the recording take, and did you have a wand or any other prop with you in the booth?

Knopf: I think my recording altogether, I’ve had about 20 days of in the studio so far, all around eight hours. So it’s been a long process. We go back every every few months to do pickups, so that’s just random noises of us heavy breathing or flying a broom or something random. I always had a wand in my hand. There’s a moment in the book where Harry breaks his wand. I was really going for it and the wand snapped in that scene, just like how Harry breaks. It was the weirdest thing ever. I was so confused because it happened in the book and now it’s happened in real life.

Mulligan: I think for me, the most challenging part that took the longest wasn’t really like the monologues. There are some things like “Ron chortled.” I didn’t even know what “chortle” meant. There are so many unique words, and I’ve had to learn every single one down to a T. “He chuckled evilly.” On paper, it sounds good when you’re reading it, but for someone to actually vocalize that, it’s a lot of thinking.

Knopf: Some of the words are really hard to pronounce, like “Gregorovitch.” I had to go over and over again saying this name, because I just was not getting it right.

Barker-Francis: For me, “basilisk” was one. I kept saying “basilic.” Sometimes it wasn’t the pronunciation of the word, it was just a word that I have never heard of before. “Mugwump” was one for me. It’d be a whole big speech, and then it would just be this word and I’d be like, “What? I’m thrown.” “Newspaper” used to trip me up. Because Hermione is so well-spoken, I’d have to go back and make sure to get the “new” in there.

Knopf: We had a “Harry Potter” vocabulary thing. We had specific words, and they were pronounced to us from a recording to make sure we got them right. I think I used it about five times a day.

Barker-Francis: I used it all the time and still got it wrong.

Mulligan: I didn’t use it as much, but I always had someone from Pottermore sitting there. I don’t know if that’s because I was worse than you guys. They’re like, “He can’t even listen to it. We actually need someone there to monitor him.” With “Voldemort,” they’re loving it. “The T is silent. You can’t say this. You can’t do that. Oh, you’ve done that wrong.” But the thing is, they’re not having a go. There’s so much passion in the room, and it’s amazing when everyone’s so passionate about one project. So much heart and soul has been put into the tiniest monologue, and we spend hours to make sure we get it right until the very end. That’s why it’s so draining, I suppose. But it’s worth it.

Was there a particular scene across the final four books that you were really excited or nervous to record?

Barker-Francis: I don’t want to reveal anything for anybody who hasn’t read the books, but there’s a moment where for Ron there’s a bit of an evil Hermione and an evil Harry. I had to do a bit of a witchy-poo Hermione. That was really interesting. You do feel a little bit self-conscious, but everyone in the room is so supportive. I felt the same way when we take the Polyjuice potion to transform into other people in the Ministry of Magic. You really just have to let yourself go and be silly with it.

Knopf: There’s a scene in “Deathly Hallows” when they all morph into other Harrys. So I had to do loads of different accents. So I was doing this Fleur Delacour French accent, and then I was doing Mundungus Fletcher, this Cockney accent. I was quite worried about that, because I don’t think I’m very good accent in general. So that was a scene I was kind of nervous about, but it was a lot of fun to do, especially the French.

Mulligan: One of my favorite scenes was when Hermione is flirting with Viktor Krum, and there’s the whole theme of Ron being so immature. One of my favorite lines is, “You’re fraternizing with the enemy.” Only Ron would be saying these words. It’s so funny. It was really nice to play a character who is immature, and everyone knows it. Then you get to see the growth of Ron. You can kind of understand why some people hate him, but then you get to grow with him. He is just a kid, and he’s getting mature as he goes on throughout the books. It was good fun to let loose and just be annoying for a bit.