Harry Potter 20th Anniversary Reunion: Everything You Need to Know (2021)

Harry Potter Reunion: Premiere Date and Where to Watch?

The reunion special, titled Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts, will premiere on 1st January 2022 on HBO Max. It’s the new year gift every Potterhead must be looking forward to. So, if you don’t already have an HBO Max subscription, it’s high time to get one. The exact time of release is not yet disclosed. However, if we follow how the FRIENDS: Reunion was broadcast, the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts will likely premiere at 12:00 AM PT/ 3:00 AM ET on HBO Max. 
Now, it is important to note that HBO Max is not present in every country. Overseas fans and those who don’t want HBO Max will have to wait a few more months to watch the Harry Potter reunion. HBO has cut a deal with TBS and Cartoon Network to broadcast “Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts” ahead of the release of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.
That indicates you will be able to watch the Harry Potter reunion before 8th April, which is the release date for the movie, on the mentioned channels. Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts will air on New Year’s Day on Sky and NOW as well.
If HBO is walking the same path it did with the Friends Reunion, you don’t have anything to worry about. They will likely distribute the streaming rights to other OTT platforms for particular countries. They have done it before too. For Game of Thrones, they reached out to Hotstar, and for Friends: The Reunion, ZEE5 was the chosen one in India. We will update you as soon as they break the news. If nothing comes out, I recommend you don’t go torrenting. That wouldn’t be a good idea as it is illegal, and we don’t support piracy.

Who is Coming to The Harry Potter Reunion?

The lead trio, consisting of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, is heading back to Hogwarts for the Harry Potter reunion without a doubt. Apart from them, fans can also expect to see the cast and crew at the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary reunion mentioned below:

Helena Bonham Carter, who played Bellatrix LestrangeRobbie Coltrane, who played Rubeus HagridRalph Fiennes, who played Lord VoldemortGary Oldman, who played Sirius BlackImelda Staunton, who played Dolores UmbridgeTom Felton, who played Draco Lucius MalfoyJames Phelps, who played Fred WeasleyOliver Phelps, who played George WeasleyMark Williams, who played Arthur WeasleyBonnie Wright, who played Ginny WeasleyAlfred Enoch, who played Dean ThomasMatthew Lewis, who played Neville LongbottomEvanna Lynch, who played Luna LovegoodDirector Christopher Columbus

The cast will give exclusive interviews and recreate some of the scenes, such as the Yule Ball and boarding the Hogwarts Express. According to reports, the filming is taking place in Warner Brothers Studio Tour in London, which contains the Diagon Alley, The Great Hall, Platform 9 ¾, and the forbidden forest. I hope they organize a Quidditch match as well.
Here’s the latest teaser trailer for the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts reunion. It showcases the various cast members receiving an invite for the reunion event, Emma Watson reading the Daily Prophet and strolling on Platform 9 ¾ to board the Hogwarts Express, and more.

What Is the Harry Potter Cast Up to Right Now?

While some cast members took the privilege of breaking the Harry Potter reunion news using social media, others left it for publicity and marketing guys. Let’s see what the main cast is up to and what changed after Harry Potter. I will also share one trivia point from the first movie for each cast member.

Daniel Radcliffe

What should we call him, “The boy who lived” or “The chosen one.” Daniel made his impression with the title role of Harry Potter, and it is hard to imagine him doing anything else ever since. However, he is a serious actor and continued his path towards success, bagging the best actor award for the movie “Swiss Army Knife.” Besides that, he is interested in philanthropy and donates to NGOs recurrently.  Daniel was supposed to wear green colored lenses to match Harry’s description from the novels. However, the lenses reacted with his eyes, and filmmakers dropped the idea.

Emma Watson

Trust me, you would not have loved Hermoine if not for Emma Watson. As described by J.K Rowling, Hermoine was an ugly character in the novels. However, with her beauty and grace, Emma played her role with such a delicacy that we couldn’t get enough of it. Similar to the movie character, Emma was a studious kid in school. Directors even had to schedule the shooting according to her classes to avoid missing them. 
After her success from Harry Potter, she completed her education and became a successful public figure. She is an outspoken feminist and was part of the G7 Summit in 2019. She also contributed significantly to awareness regarding sustainable fashion. All this while continuing her acting career on the sidelines. A living example of beauty with brains. She broke the news of the reunion on Instagram. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Emma Watson (@emmawatson)
Directors asked Emma to wear fake buck teeth to match her description from the novels. But, she couldn’t deliver her dialogues clearly, so they dropped the idea.

Rupert Grint

Rupert played the character of Ron Weasley, who had to live in Harry’s shadows. I guess it’s fair to say that the ginger-haired actor banged the role swiftly. He continued his acting career and has appeared in multiple movies and series after Harry Potter. He created a Guinness World record for the fastest 1 million subscribers on Instagram when he joined the platform in November 2020. His first photo was with his newborn daughter Wednesday G. Grint. Or should I say, “Another Weasley!” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Rupert Grint (@rupertgrint)
To audition for the role of Ron, Rupert sent a video of himself rapping while explaining why he should get the part.

Why is J.K Rowling Excluded from the Harry Potter Reunion?

It was surprising to see J.K Rowling’s name nowhere in the description or news related to Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts. She is the creator, the person who brought these characters to life out of her imagination. I mean, there is no Harry Potter without J.K Rowling. Still, she doesn’t seem to be part of the Harry Potter reunion.
The most straightforward conclusion for her absence is the transphobic comments she has passed earlier. It all began when Rowling was researching trans people, meeting them, reading about them, meeting gender specialists, psychologists, and more. It was all for a character from her next novel. While studying, she would screenshot any tweet or comment she liked regarding the issue and thought it would be helpful. She accidentally liked some of the comments, and social media took it badly. The effects compounded as people asked her more questions about the topic and twisted her words against her. Ultimately, many of her followers made biased thoughts about her mentality and cornered her. If you are interested, learn more about the incident in J.K Rowling’s words. Celebrities who prefer to stay away from negative publicity take extra care. Therefore, the main cast of Harry Potter has also loosened the ties with the writer. It looks like a straightforward explanation of why she wasn’t included in the reunion. However, no official comments have been made yet.

What to Expect from Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts

It won’t be another Harry Potter movie in a manner we have seen them in our childhood. However, the original director Chris Columbus has shown interest in directing Harry Potter and The Cursed Child with the original trio. Looking at HBO’s previous projects, it seems we can expect a fun one to two-hour reunion special similar to Friends. The project might consist of archive footage that we haven’t yet seen, exclusive interviews, the recreation of some scenes, and loads of nostalgia. So, if you are ready to relive the magical world of Hogwarts yet again, get prepared with your wands, and log in to HBO Max at New Year’s midnight.