The 8 Biggest Takeaways & Surprises from HBO Max's 'Harry Potter: 20th Anniversary Reunion' Special

Image via Warner Bros./HBO Max

Image via HBO Max

When the special was announced, fans questioned whether or not J.K. Rowling, who penned the popular children’s novels, would be participating. Rowling has been facing plenty of criticism for her controversial stance against the transgender community since last year, so she was not included with the rest of the cast. While she wasn’t involved in the reunion special, it did feature clips of her talking about her experience that were filmed in 2019. 

Regardless of the controversy, the cast and crew gave her credit for the world she created for them and for millions of people around the world. The author’s books started a reading craze during a time people called the “death of reading.” A lot of the actors, and even director Chris Columbus, were pressured to join the films by the kids who were fans of the books. The younger actors were also fans of the series, and Robbie Coltrane, who played the fan-favorite Rubeus Hagrid, said Rowling reawakened people’s love for reading and inspired people to “realize the power of writing” through her work.

All these years later, it’s almost impossible to imagine any other actors playing these iconic roles. (I firmly believe Radcliffe was born to play Harry Potter and a part of me thinks Emma Watson is Hermione.) The director and the production team knew how important it was for fans to approve of the actors they chose for the cast. The titular role was their top priority but also their biggest challenge. “The search for Harry Potter was insane,” Columbus, who directed the first two films, said. “I think the biggest pressure at the beginning was who was going to be Harry Potter.” Rowling was involved in the casting process and knew finding the right actor to play Harry was key. “We couldn’t find Harry. We just couldn’t find Harry and it was getting kind of weird and panicky,” she said. 

After months of searching, the director spotted Radcliffe in the BBC version of David Copperfield while in his hotel room in London. “Immediately, a lightbulb went off in my head and I said, ‘This is Harry Potter. This is the kid we’ve been looking for for months.’” He told the casting director to get the young actor in for an audition but his parents weren’t keen on him signing up for seven films because it would be a massive disruption in his life. After some convincing, they finally got him to come in for an audition. He got the role and the actor said it was thanks to him having a mix of childlike happiness and hauntedness that was needed for the role. Rowling agreed, saying it was emotional to see her character come to life through Radcliffe and when she saw him, she knew he was the one.

According to Columbus, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were easier to cast than Harry. The director said he felt that Grint and Watson were so similar to their characters that it felt like they jumped out of a page from the books. The three leads clicked during their first screen test together, and the rest is history. Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint were 11, 10, and 11, respectively, when they were introduced at a news conference in 2000. The three actors, who are all now in their 30s, gathered around for a conversation during the reunion about the time they spent together as kids. “A. Really emotional, obviously, and B. It feels like no time has passed and loads of time has passed simultaneously,” Watson said about being back with her co-stars. 

“It’s quite surreal. It doesn’t feel like much time has passed, it doesn’t feel like we’ve earned a reunion yet,” Grint added. “I have had kidney stones and a baby, so time has obviously passed. I feel my age.” They talked about the audition process and how they were grouped with various actors to see what their chemistry would be like. “I do remember when it was the three of us, something felt different and like right and easy, I do remember the click,” Watson said. The actors all agreed that they were all very much like the characters they portrayed in real life. “Hermione made complete sense to me. That’s me, like I am that girl,” Watson said, with Colombus adding that she was arguably the smartest and most brilliant person on the set, just like her character. 

They also spoke about the child actors not realizing that they were working with the “cream of the British acting industry,” as Tom Felton said, and said he didn’t have a clue who anyone was at the time. The cast included actors like Alan Rickman, Gary Oldman, Maggie Smith, Richard Harris, Robbie Coltrane, and Emma Thompson. “The kids didn’t have the capability of understanding the gravity of who they were dealing with at the time,” Columbus said. “The British royalty of the acting world.”

Chris Columbus directed the first two Harry Potter films and called it the “greatest experience of his life.” Like many of the adults who were involved in the films, Columbus was introduced to the books through his own children. “I ended up doing it because my daughter Eleanor convinced me to read the books after I’d refused three times. So once Prisoner of Azkaban came out I said, ‘OK, I’ll read these, finally’ and I immediately saw the movies. I just saw them and that hasn’t happened since.” Once he met with Rowling, they realized they had the same vision for the movies and that’s when it all began. Radcliffe commended him for how effortlessly he took on the challenge while also making everyone feel comfortable on set. “On the first film I was dying the entire time but I always believe you cannot bring that kind of anxiety,” he said. “I want everyone to feel comfortable, I want everyone to feel like it’s a family, I want everyone to feel like they’re home.” The director said that once the public accepted the cast and the first movie was a hit, he let his hair down and there wasn’t as much pressure, adding, “I had a ball on the second film, the Chamber of Secrets because I was free.” 

The cast also praised Columbus for how patient he was and how well he handled them as child actors, and for letting them be children while still managing to get them to do their work well. “How did Chris Columbus stay in such good spirits?” Felton asked. “Columbus basically just let us be kids. I never recall feeling like we were working.” Radcliffe agreed, saying, “They probably made their jobs harder for themselves by letting us have as much fun as we had because it distracted us from the work we were supposed to be doing.”

Director David Yates was told that Watson was considering taking a step back from the films before they started working on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The actress opened up during the special saying that the loneliness and the pressure of what she had taken on had finally hit her saying, “The fame thing had finally hit home in a big way.” Felton said that while the boys all had their counterparts, Watson was on her own. “People definitely forget what she took on, and how gracefully she did it,” the actor said. “Emma was not only younger, but she was by herself.”

“I did find a diary entry, and I can see that at times I was lonely,” she said to Grint during the reunion. “I think I was scared, I don’t know if you ever felt like it got to a tipping point when you were like, ‘This is kind of forever now.’” Grint shared that he also contemplated leaving the films but they never spoke about their feelings as a group. Eventually, Watson realized she had to see it through, for the fans and for the rest of the cast.

During a section of the reunion, the cast looked back on the actors from the series that have since passed away. They paid tribute to Richard Harris, Richard Griffiths, John Hurt, Helen McCrory, and Alan Rickman, and reflected on who they were as actors and what they brought to the franchise. Radcliffe looked back on the impact they had on him personally, as a child, and as an actor and said he finds comfort in the fact that he got to meet them by saying, “I knew that absolute legend.” Rickman, who played the iconic Professor Severus Snape, died in 2016. “Alan Rickman never talked to me like I was a child,” Watson recalled. “He always took my thoughts and opinions very seriously which I was always very touched by.” Ralph Fiennes said that while his friend and co-star Rickman played a wizard in the films, he was a “magician as an actor.”

Ron and Hermione’s romance was built up throughout the entire series but it wasn’t until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 that the pair finally kissed. “Obviously us kissing was the most horrifying thing either of us has ever had to go through,” Watson said. “I think I kind of blacked out. I just remember your face coming closer and closer to mine,” Grint added, to which she said: “Every time you talk about this you make it sound like an absolute horror show.” During her one-on-one interview, Watson clarified her comments, saying: “Kissing Rupert is one of the hardest things I ever had to do. It just felt wrong, so wrong on every level because Dan, Rupert, and I are so much siblings. All three of us felt so matched in how much it meant to us.” 

The pair then shared a moment alone that was easily the most tearful of them all. “The way it feels for me now, like seeing you here having had time apart—I’m trying not to get emotional—it feels like you’re like, a pillar of my life,” Watson told Grint. “It’s a very overwhelming thing because I’ve watched you grow up. We’ve watched each other grow up. We grew up together. We’re family, we always will be, we don’t need to see each other,” Grint said in return. “Even though we don’t see each other all the time. It’s a strong bond we’ll always have and we’ll always be part of each other’s lives. I love you.” Then added: “As a friend.” 

“Just to be clear,” Watson said with a laugh. “For everyone watching.”

The entire Harry Potter collection and the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts special are now available for streaming on HBO Max.