Casting Harry Potter TV Show Reboot
12. Vernon Dursley - Shaun Dooley
Vernon Dursley really isn't a very nice man at all. The late Richard Griffiths played him as one step away from physically abusive, yet still somehow managed to keep him as a comedic villain. Shaun Dooley has been appearing more and more often recently, impressing in everything he's turned up in so far.
Netflix's The Stranger gets to show him at his manipulating best, trying to hide what he has done while also slightly enjoying it. That's Vernon - he likes to berate and belittle Harry, though he would go to any length to hide him from the neighbours.
The entire opening section of the book focuses on Vernon's increasing paranoia and fear over the wizards discovering their location. Dooley has given us both in his roles, while also managing to, at least partly, play a good father, particularly in Russell T Davies' It's A Sin. Vernon may be awful to Harry, but he loves Dudley fiercely. Shaun Dooley has the presence to command any scene, he has the odious ability to play Harry's abusive uncle but he can also show what good parenting means - relatively speaking.
As one of Britain's most in-demand actors at the moment, he is the perfect choice in our fantasy cast!