The previously announced 20th anniversary reunion of the Harry Potter cast is imminent, arriving on HBO Max to start the new year, and a new photo from the upcoming event has revealed series stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson all together again. Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts will bring back this trio of stars from the film along with several other key cast and crew members with new interviews and discussion that pay tribute to the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. You can find the full photo of Harry, Ron, and Hermoine below along with further details of the special.
“It has been an incredible journey since the debut of the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone film, and witnessing how it has evolved into this remarkable interconnected universe has been magical to say the least,” Tom Ascheim, President, Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics, previously said when the reunion was announced. “This retrospective is a tribute to everyone whose lives were touched by this cultural phenomenon-from the talented cast and crew who poured their heart and soul into this extraordinary film franchise to the passionate fans who continue to keep the Wizarding World spirit alive 20 years later.”
In addition to Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson, the special will bring back Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Tom Felton, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Mark Williams, Bonnie Wright, Alfred Enoch, Matthew Lewis, and Evanna Lynch, among others. Even director Chris Columbus, who helmed the first two movies in the series, is set to return.
“The goal was always to cast kids who you hoped could carry the franchise for the next several years,” Columbus previously told ComicBook.com in an interview about the anniversary of the first movie. “None of us have any idea how kids are going to age, or if they’re going to become better and better actors. But as a result of casting those three kids … The first film I always call ‘acting class’ because none of them had that much experience. If you notice, there’s a lot of cuts in the first film. We had to cut, we had four cameras running, because we never knew what the kids were going to do, but by the time they got to the second film and particularly [Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban], these kids were able to walk, talk, deliver an entire scene and you could do it in one shot. I always felt great about where they got to in terms of acting abilities under the first two films, but I never even expected them to age as wonderfully as they did. And their acting just continued to get better and better. A lot of luck in that particular situation.”
Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts was filmed at the iconic Warner Bros. Studio Tour London—The Making of Harry Potter. The special will premiere on HBO Max on January 1, 2022.