Home ›› 18 Nov 2021 ›› Show Biz
The original cast of the Harry Potter series will be reunited 20 years after the first film was released, reports The Guardian.
An HBO Max special titled ‘Return to Hogwarts’ will be released on 1 January 2022, the network has said.
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson will join American film-maker Chris Columbus to discuss the films and explore their creation in depth.
The special will invite fans “on a magical first-person journey through one of the most beloved film franchises of all time”, HBO Max said.
The programmed was announced exactly 20 years on from the US release of the first film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, on 16 November 2001.
A 52-second trailer featured clips from several of the world-famous films and promised “the legendary cast” would return “to where the magic started”.
The trio will be joined by Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Imelda Staunton and Tom Felton.
Promoting the trailer Felton, who played blond-haired villain Draco Malfoy, warned fans to save the date. “Is this what school homecoming is like?” he wrote on Twitter. “Mark your calendars for New Years Day ReturnToHogwarts, streaming on hbomax x.”
Matt Lewis, known for his portrayal of hapless Neville Longbottom in the series, posted: “This New Year’s Day ... we’re putting the band back together.”
The executive producer, Casey Patterson, said: “There’s magic in the air here with this incredible cast, as they all return home to the original sets of Hogwarts, where they began 20 years ago.
It comes as Radcliffe told a BBC documentary, also marking 20 years since the first film, of his joy that many people watch the Harry Potter films when they are “hungover”.
The 32-year-old said: “The time in most people’s lives when they discovered it meant that it has an incredibly important place in a lot people’s childhoods, and they still feel very protective over it.
The documentary, as part of Movies with Ali Plumb, also saw Radcliffe pay tribute to author JK Rowling, who has expanded the Potter universe to include the Fantastic Beasts film series starring Eddie Redmayne.
