We know and love Joseph Morgan as the villainous Klaus Mikaelson from The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, but his first big audition was for another one of our favorite franchises: Harry Potter. Can you imagine JoMo in the films? The actor dished to Just Jared about the auditioning process.
“I was just in drama school and I just signed with my agent in the UK,” Joseph recalls. “I was 21, and I heard about them making the Chamber of Secrets, which was the second film. There was this part, Tom Riddle, and this woman called me, who was interested in being my agent. It came through on an anonymous number, and I thought it was one of my friends pretending like, ‘Hello, is Joseph there please? Yes, I have an audition for him.’”
We can totally imagine Joseph as Lord Voldemort’s younger self. As we know from his time as Klaus, he knows how to play a compelling villain. Of course, this was before the actor had such experience playing a bad guy.
Joseph remembers the steps he took to prepare for the audition: “So I read the book, watched the first Harry Potter film, bought a Harry Potter poster and put it on my wall. I absorbed it all as much as I could. Then I went in and I got a call back but I didn’t end up getting it. It sort of set the standard for me. Like, I knew I should be doing film and television.”
Though we’re sad for 21-year-old Joseph that he didn’t end up getting the part, we can’t say we’re upset that his career ended up the way it did. Can you imagine The Vampire Diaries without him as Klaus? Yeah, us either.