While it may not necessarily feel that long to some of you reading, it’s been 20 years since the Harry Potter film franchise launched with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. It didn’t take long for actors Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson to be catapulted to worldwide fame, and they would go on to respectively reprise Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger in seven more movies. Earlier today, it was announced that these three actors will reunite for an HBO Max special, and Watson has since shared a touching post for the Potterheads out there to commemorate both the upcoming event and the two-decade anniversary of her film career kicking off.
Taking to social media, Emma Watson talked about how much Hermione Granger and the entire Harry Potter franchise still means to her after all these years, noting how proud she is of how she and her younger co-stars turned out, as well as how they supported one another and “held up something meaningful.” From there, the actress thanked the fans for their continued support and the crew from the original movies, and then teased the forthcoming Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts. You can read Watson’s full comments and see the accompanying pictures from Instagram below.
While Emma Watson’s post-Harry Potter career has seen her starring in major movies like Beauty and the Beast and Little Women, the Wizarding World will obviously hold a special place in her heart for the rest of her life. After all, she, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and many others grew from children to young adults as they roamed the Hogwarts halls for a decade. While some actors prefer to distance themselves from blockbuster franchises they were once part of, Watson is not in that group, and we’ll get to see her revisit this corner of her career for HBO Max’s Harry Potter reunion special.
Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts will premiere on HBO Max January 1, 2022, and while no footage from the special was revealed in the short teaser, it did reveal that Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint are far from the only ones participating. The extensive lineup includes fellow Hogwarts students performers like Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley), Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) and Evanna Lynch (Lunda Lovegood), and we’ll also be treated to appearances from older actors like Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort), Gary Oldman (Sirius Black) and Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange). Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone director Chris Columbus will also take part in the event, and there are a handful of names that are being kept secret.
This piece of HBO Max programming is described as a “retrospective special” that will see the Harry Potter cast reuniting for the first time since The Deathly Hallows – Part 2 wrapped up this magical saga. Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts is also being called the “capstone event” to HBO Max’s holiday season. While we wait for the special’s arrival, you can rewatch all eight Harry Potter movies on that same platform.
Meanwhile, the Wizarding World film franchise is being kept afloat these days with Fantastic Beasts, and the third entry, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, will work its magic in theaters on April 15, 2022. Discover what other movies are coming out next year with our 2022 release schedule.