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Harry Potter fans already have some exciting plans for the New Year.
Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts, invites fans on a magical first-person journey through one of the most beloved film franchises of all time. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson will reunite for the Max Original retrospective special, together with other esteemed cast members and filmmakers across all eight Harry Potter films.
In celebration of the anniversary of the franchise’s first film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, this unique television event includes brand new cast discussions, insights from the creative team behind the magic, and comments from creator J.K. Rowling.
Throughout the nostalgic event, Daniel Radcliffe remembers some of his most embarrassing haircuts, Emma Watson calls meeting up with her Harry Potter cast mates “an unexpected joy,” and director Christopher Columbus recalls the sets for the movies as “the greatest playground in the world.”
Now 32, Radcliffe was just 11 years old when he was cast as the beloved orphaned boy with magic powers. In the reunion, the star said that he would always be happy to talk about the film--even all these years later.
“Every part of my life is connected to Potter and to Leavesden. My first kiss is connected to someone here, my first girlfriends were here. ... It all spirals out from the Potter set somewhere,” he said, according to advance excerpts released on Monday.
Daniel also recalls how much he and Rupert Grint (who played Ron Weasley) hated being told to grow their hair out for a shaggier look in later films in the series.
“We’re like, ‘No, no, no, no, no. You’re not leaving us like this? We’re supposed to be becoming teenagers and dating girls in this film,” he said. “’That‘s not what it’s going to be, is it?’ So, I think we were pretty devastated as we realized that it was.”
Radcliffe, Grint, Watson, and Columbus are joined by actors Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy), Gary Oldman (Sirius Black), Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange) and other cast members for the reunion.
J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series, does not make a personal appearance on the reunion special, though she will show up in archive footage. Rowling’s controversial opinions on transgender issues in the last year have been the cause of a lot of backlash, with some in the LGBTQ community accusing her of transphobia.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer‘s Stone was released in November 2001. The eight film franchise took in approximately $7.8 billion at the global box office.
Return to Hogwarts will be available on HBO Max on January 1.
