In honor of the 20th anniversary of the first Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint reunited for an HBO Max special. Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts “invites fans on a magical first-person journey through one of the most beloved film franchises of all time,” according to the official description, but it wasn’t always a magical time for the cast. Both Watson and Grint confess in the special that they considered leaving the series.
“You were considering pulling out, I’ve never really spoken to you about that,” Grint says at one point to Watson (via Decider). She replied, “Yeah. I think I was scared. I don’t know if you ever felt like it got to a tipping point where you were like, this is kind of forever now… The fame thing had finally hit home in a big way.”
As actor Tom Felton (who played Draco Malfoy) pointed out, Watson also had to shoulder the responsibility of being the franchise’s sole female lead from a young age. “People definitely forget what she took on and how gracefully she did it,” he said during the reunion. “Dan and Rupert, they had each other. I had my cronies, whereas Emma was not only younger, she was by herself.”
Grint had his issues with fame, as well. He frequently contemplated “what life would be like if I called it a day.” But they both stuck around for all eight films and made so much money that they rarely appear in movies anymore (Watson’s last movie was 2019’s brilliant Little Women, while Grint sticks to the small screen). You gotta respect that. But you must also give it up for Radcliffe, who will play a farting corpse, Allen Ginsberg, an eccentric rich guy named Fairfax, whatever you need. Watson and Grint took one path, Radcliffe took another, but they’re all winners because none of them are in the much-maligned Fantastic Beasts.
Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts premieres on January 1.