‘The Traitors: New Blood’: James & Oliver Phelps Share They Had to ‘Hide Behind Walls’ As Castle Keepers

When The Traitors fans turned on New Blood for the first time, they might have been confused because they saw two famous faces, despite the new show being all civilians.

Harry Potter‘s James and Oliver Phelps, who played Fred and George Weasley in the original franchise, are the Castle Keepers for New Blood. In the U.S. version with celebrities, a man named Fergus with red hair and a long red beard held the role. However, he didn’t appear in the last season.

The twins help host Alan Cumming by preparing missions, hiding clues, and setting up mischievous twists and deadly surprises for the players. However, unlike Fergus, the contestants never see James and Oliver. They are there quickly for viewers and then gone quickly.

We caught up with the twins about their new season of Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking and had to ask about their time on the NBC show.

How did you come to be the Castle Keepers on this season of The Traitors?

James Phelps: They reached out to us, actually, and just inquired about whether we’d be interested or not. And so, we kind of had a little bit of a discussion and everything, and I love the outdoors, and we both really enjoy being in Scotland. So, to go up there and be the Castle Keepers was a fun thing to do. Also, we got to dress in, obviously, all the Highland outdoorsy stuff, which was really cool.

So, that was fun, but none of the contestants knew that we were there for. We were literally having to hide behind walls when they were walking past and things like that, but it was a fun gig to do.

Would you ever want to compete on the show yourselves? If so, would you make a better Traitor or Faithful?

Oliver Phelps: I think I would probably be an easier Traitor than James being a Traitor.

James: Yeah. I’m terrible at anything like that. So, even on Wizards of Baking, one of our jobs is that we have to tell people they’re going home. I hate that job because I can’t look at people and say, ‘I’m sorry. It’s time to leave now.’ I have to look above their eyeline, so I’m not looking at them. So yeah, I’d be terrible at that.

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It would be fun to have a Harry Potter cast Traitors season. Maybe people would be suspicious of the people who played villains.

Oliver: I think I’d say yeah. If you were in Slytherin, everyone’s gonna be looking at you funny.

Or maybe a Wizards of Baking Traitors.

Oliver: I think a few of them would blend quite well into being a Traitor.

I think Duff would make a good Traitor.

Oliver: Yeah, exactly. He’s got a very good poker face.

The Traitors: New Blood, Thursdays, 8/7c, NBC, streaming next day on Peacock

— Additional reporting by Paige Strout