Stars Of 'Harry Potter' Reflect On The Franchise During Reunion Special

Jan 05, 2022 by apost team

The "Harry Potter" books and films have become one of the most well-known and beloved franchises of all time. The first book was published in 1997 with the last of the series being released in 2007. That decade saw the fanbase grow to worldwide popularity with the release of the first film in 2001. 

The film franchise became a household name by the time the final installment was released in 2011. After 20 years since the release of the first film, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," the cast has reunited to speak about their years playing the beloved characters.

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson were all in attendance for the reunion special, which is called "Harry Potter: Return to Hogwarts" and is available to stream on HBO Max. Other stars like Tom Felton and Helena Bonham Carter were interviewed for the special, as well as director Chris Columbus. The cast and crew revealed behind-the-scenes stories and reflected on all of the years they spent together filming the movies.

The stars of the franchise were just children when the first movie was released 20 years ago, and the world has seen them grow up into wonderful adults. However, growing up in the spotlight was not always easy and the cast revealed that one of the main characters considered leaving the franchise before it was finished. 

Daniel Radcliffe and Chris Columbus had the opportunity to remember the late Alan Rickman and spoke about his great dedication to the character of Severus Snape. Other late cast members that were mentioned include Helen McCrory, Richard Harris and Richard Griffiths. Keep reading to learn more about this heartwarming reunion special.

One of the most touching parts of the special was getting to look back at cast members that have since passed away. While remembering Rickman, Radcliffe brought up his dedication to playing his character. "He had the inside line," Radcliffe said. "He very very early said to Jo, 'I think I need to know what happens here.'" As a result, Rickman was able to give a performance that was authentic to the source material.

Knowing what would happen to Snape before the rest of the world sometimes brought some challenges to filming, especially for the director. Radcliffe added, "Chris would literally say to him, 'Why are you doing that?' (and Rickman would say), 'I'll tell you later.'"

One of the highlights of the special came when Carter was being interviewed. It was revealed that when Radcliffe was young he had a crush on the actress and once wrote her a letter that said, "I do love you and I just wish I had been born 10 years earlier. I might have (had) a chance."

Radcliffe has been known as Harry Potter for the majority of his life, but there was a chance he may have never been cast. After a long search for an actor to play Harry, Columbus saw Radcliffe perform in the 1999 BBC adaptation of "David Copperfield." "Immediately a light bulb went off in my head," Columbus said. "'This is Harry Potter. This is the kid we've been looking for for months.'" 

The only problem was that the filming was set to be in Los Angeles, and Radcliffe's parents felt it would be too much of a disruption of his life. Radcliffe auditioned anyway, his parents relented and the rest is history.

apost.com

It was also revealed that before the filming of the fifth movie, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," Watson almost decided to leave the franchise altogether. "The fame thing had finally hit home in a big way," Watson said of that time in her life. 

Felton defended Watson by saying, "People definitely forget what she took on and how gracefully she did it."

Playing such popular characters was difficult for the rest of the main cast as well. "I feel like I lost track of who I was and who the character was. I didn't really know where they ended or began," Grint shared. "Even my name didn't feel like my name. I felt I only knew how to do one thing. I knew how to play Ron." 

Watson added, "It was almost like we did the most extreme form of method acting."

There were many great supporting characters featured in the series. Jason Isaacs, who is known as the infamous Lucious Malfoy, almost didn't play the iconic villain as he originally set out to audition for Gilderoy Lockhart. "I was about to play Captain Hook in Peter Pan and I thought, 'Well, I don't want to play two children's villains,'" Isaacs admitted. 

One actor who left the cast star struck was Gary Oldman, especially Radcliffe. "I remember you giving me the Gary chat," Watson recalled. "You were like, 'Listen, Emma, you need to be cool. This is Gary Oldman, it's a really big deal.'" 

Radcliffe added: "Which was really a projection of my own fears. Because I was like, 'Dan, you need to be cool. This guy's a big deal.'"

Are you a fan of the Harry Potter franchise? Which film is your favorite? Let us know if you're going to watch the reunion special and be sure to pass this along to your friends and family that love Harry Potter!