‘Harry Potter’ Stars on Reuniting for Anniversary Special ‘Return to Hogwarts’
Preview
The magical time is nearly upon us as the stars of the Harry Potter come together once more to commemorate the show’s landmark event in HBO Max’s special, Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts.
Convening at Warner Bros. Studios near London, England, the highly-anticipated reunion takes place among the sets made iconic by the franchise which first kicked off in 2001 and ran for eight films through 2011. Needless to say, it’s an emotional event for the core trio at the center of the movies as Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson look back on their childhoods playing Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger.
(Credit: HBO Max)
“We’ve seen even more how much it means to people, and what a part of people’s lives it is,” Radcliffe says of the reunion and the excitement surrounding it. “I was never not happy to be a part of that, but it means even more now. I’m able to appreciate how special that is. It’s a nice thing. It has been lovely to see everyone. It really has. I didn’t know if it would be”
The actor, who played the titular boy wizard that is plucked from his room beneath the staircase of 4 Privet Drive and delivered to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has an interesting relationship with nostalgia. “It’s just so much feeling that it can be weirdly painful sometimes,” Radcliffe reveals, “because there’s so much of life to take in that happened in those ten years.”
(Credit: HBO Max)
Radcliffe’s cohorts Grint and Watson had equally emotional reactions to reuniting with each other and their former costars. “It was amazing to see everyone again,” says Grint. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen any of them. But I think about those movies all the time.”
For the actor who played Harry’s red-headed bestie, it feels like the right moment to revisit this moment from their lives. “Coming out of it, it was always important for me to figure out what I was doing, who I was…” shares Grint who currently stars in Apple TV+‘s Servant. “It’s been nice to have that time. This is the perfect time to sit down with everyone and reminisce.”
(Credit: HBO Max)
Watson on the other hand wasn’t sure what to expect upon reuniting with the cast. “I honestly didn’t know how I was going to feel… And then something happened where it was just like the comfort of the people that I’ve known for such a long time and the history that we share and that sense of safety,” she reveals. She further describes the experience as “an unexpected joy.”
Understandably, there’s a lot of pressure in revisiting something that loomed so large in your life. For Radcliffe, he says, “I think the thing that scared me the most when we were coming out of it was the implication that the most meaningful thing in our life was done. And there’s something so joyous about seeing everyone.”
“And it wasn’t though,” he adds, making it clear that while Potter has been important, it’s not the most important thing he and his costars will do in their lives. “We’ve all gone on to other stuff. We have wives and kids and lives. There’s something really lovely about seeing that.”
Don’t miss out on the full experience when Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts arrives on New Year’s Day on HBO Max.
Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts, Premieres Saturday, January 1, 2022, HBO Max
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