One of the baddest villains in cinema will need a new actor to play him, and one Harry Potter director knows who it should be.

Now that the Harry Potter franchise will be rebooted in the form of an HBO series airing on Max, rumors are flying around about who will play the iconic characters. Among the many rumors is Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy could take on the the villainous Lord Voldemort.

"I look forward to seeing what they're trying to do with it," the filmmaker told PEOPLE Chris Columbus is excited for the next chapter in the Harry Potter universe. The filmmaker, 66, spoke with PEOPLE exclusively at the Los Angeles premiere of Nosferatu,

The director of the first two entries in the film franchise thinks this Irish star would be an "amazing" Dark Lord.

Casting rumors for the Harry Potter TV reboot have been heating up over the past few months, with plenty of names for Snape and Dumbledore in the mix. The franchise's main villain is now getting some of the limelight with one name consistently being linked with the big bad: Cillian Murphy.

"Our movie was two hours and forty minutes, and others were about the same length," Columbus commented. He believes that the episodic format now being used will allow the series to include "all the great scenes we couldn't fit into the movies.

Original Harry Potter helmer Chris Columbus is praising HBO’s forthcoming television reboot, calling it a “spectacular idea” that will allow for the exploration of previously uncharted Hogwarts hallways.

J.K. Rowling’s beloved wizarding series roughly 15 years after the final movie in the franchise came out. Some people are pumped about the upcoming Harry Potte r TV serie s, and some are opposed, but if you were to ask original franchise director Chris Columbus how he feels,

Chris Columbus, the director who set the tone for the Harry Potter film franchise with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, has given a glowing endorsement to HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter television adaptation.

Original Harry Potter director Chris Columbus has called the incoming HBO reboot series a "spectacular idea" as it has the potential to better recreate the books. Speaking to People, Columbus said he was restricted by the relatively short runtimes of films when directing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.