Taylor Swift has been more into pop music in recent years (and in even more recent years, folk), but she began her music career firmly in the country lane. Red, though, was a transitional effort for Swift, as it saw her experimenting in other genres, and with its follow-up, 1989, Swift went full-blown pop. So, it’s not surprising that Swift hasn’t been a major player on the country charts since Red, but now Red (Taylor’s Version) is making her one again.
As Billboard notes, on the new Country Airplay chart dated November 20, the Chris Stapleton-featuring “I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” debuts at No. 23. That’s Swift’s highest placement on the chart since Red in 2013 and her second-highest debut among her 39 songs on the chart, after “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” which started at its peak at No. 13 in September 2012.
Swift recently said of the song, “[Co-writer Lori McKenna and I] wanted this song to be like a comedic, tongue-in-cheek, funny, not caring what anyone thinks about you sort of break-up song, because there are a lot of different types of heartbreak songs on Red. Some of them are very sincere, some of them are very stoic and heartbreaking and sad. We wanted this to be the moment where I was like, ‘I don’t care about anything.’ And we wanted to make people laugh with it, and we wanted it to be sort of a drinking song, and I think that that’s what it ended up being.”
Red (Taylor’s Version) is out now via Republic. Get it here.
After the last blind tasting I did with dark rum, I realized I need to drink more dark rum. It’s great, nuanced alcohol that deserves just as much space on any bar cart as any whisk(e)y. To that end, let’s talk a little bit more about some dark rums and rank them.
Dark rum, like whiskey, is aged in oak, which imparts both deep flavors and color. At the end of the day, we’re talking about a very similar process just with different ingredients at the base of the spirit. In this case, sugar cane by-products instead of grains. After that, the process is very similar from the distillation to the aging to the bottling. Hence, the deep similarities that run between a well-aged rum and whiskey.
To that end, I’m calling out ten dark rums we should all be drinking more of. These are ranked according to their flavor and all cost less than $50 (though some brush right up against that barrier). Let’s get into it!
While Trinidad and Tobago’s Angostura is probably best known for its iconic bitters, don’t sleep on their deep bench of rums. Their seven-year-old expression is a really solid entry. The juice is aged for at least seven years in ex-bourbon before it’s blended, filtered, proofed, and bottled with no sugary or spicy additives.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a mix of maple syrup, bitter cacao, buttery toffee, oak char, and rich vanilla up top. The sip has an espresso bitterness next to more cacao powder with a really creamy vanilla nature plus a slight Christmas spice sharpness. All of that combines on the slow end into a Christmas cake vanilla pudding dusted with coffee and cacao … kind of like a crème brûlée tiramisu.
Bottom Line:
This rum has no business being this cheap. Seriously, this could cost twice as much and no one would bat an eye. It’s tasty, mixable, and sippable.
This iconic Guyanan rum is made from Demerara sugar. The blend is built from rums off three different types of stills. Those spirits go into barrels that age for at least 12 years before they’re vatted, proofed, and bottled.
Tasting Notes:
The nose is full of dark and rich molasses syrup that’s cut with plums, cinnamon, and almonds that all combine for a type of sweet candy. The palate really holds onto that sweetness as dates, raisins, eggnog spice, rich vanilla, and slightly sticky and sweet tobacco drive the taste towards a semi-sweet yet warm mid-palate. The finish edges away from the spice and warmth back towards the sweet, dark fruits, leaving you with a rush of dark and syrupy candy.
Bottom Line:
This is the perfect rum for anyone with a sweet tooth. It’s a great dessert pour and rules over a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It’s also a nice late-night sipper if you’re into the bolder dark rums.
The Venezuelan rum is a blend of rums aged from four to 35 years in former Spanish sherry and brandy barrels. Those key barrels are hand-selected for their depth and then married into this masterful rum.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a clear sense of honey on the nose with hints of dark chocolate and a touch of red fruit next to oak. The palate leans into honey as the vanilla kicks in with a creamy edge next to green bananas, toasted coconut, wet cedar, and a little more dark chocolate. The end is pretty short but stays tropical, soft, and full of fruit.
Bottom Line:
This feels like a solid cocktail base that also happens to work well as a sipper on a few rocks. It’s not reinventing the wheel, but it hits high marks without costing too much.
You can’t really talk about rum and not talk about Barbados and Mount Gay. The distillery is the oldest rum distillery in the world and Barbados is known as the “birthplace” of the spirit. This expression is first aged in ex-bourbon barrels before being blended and finished in heavily-charred oak, giving the sip an incredible sense of depth.
Tasting Notes:
This is an even-handed rum. Notes of lemon-lime pop next to roasted nuts and plenty of sharp, dark spice. The palate delivers a hint of bourbon vanilla then carries on through notes of sweet tropical fruits, more citrus, thick molasses, plenty of Christmas spice, and a clear sense of bitter charred oak. The fattiness from the nuts marries that aforementioned bitterness as the warmth from the spice closes out the sip.
Bottom Line:
This is the perfect on the rocks rum, especially if you’re beachside. It’s super easy-drinking, has enough depth to keep you engaged, and is always a delight.
This is Bacardi’s high-end expression that’s crazy cheap. The rum is aged for ten long years in lightly charred oak before its charcoal filtered and brought down to proof, creating an ultra-refined expression.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with a duo of very soft leather next to a basket full of tropical fruits. The palate is light but offers a pan full of Bananas Foster with plenty of brown sugar and holiday spice with a slight touch of dried fruits. That butter drives the mid-palate towards a finish brimming with old cellar cobwebs and a nice layer of vanilla-laced tobacco.
Bottom Line:
This feels a little like Bacardi’s answer to well-aged whiskey. It’s very nuanced and distinct. Yet, it’s not too pretentious to be used in a killer cocktail or over the rocks.
This Nicaraguan rum is made on the slopes of the San Cristóbal Volcano. The molasses is made from estate-grown sugar cane from that volcanic soil. The rums are then aged in ex-bourbon barrels for varying amounts of time before blending. It’s important to note that “18” is the average age of the barrels involved and not the age of the expression.
Tasting Notes:
Bold and dark spices mingle with potpourri and a sense of sweet red fruit. The subtle molasses arrives and carries the fruit and florals towards a woody flourish. There’s a mineral edge that leans towards smoky, fruit-flavored pipe tobacco on the warming end.
Bottom Line:
This is a quality rum that hits very well as a sipper. It also works wonders if you’re looking to make a rum old fashioned.
The Barbadian rum is the base for a lot of sourced rums out there. This expression is aged for three years in ex-bourbon barrels and then transferred to port casks for a finishing touch over six more years. The idea was to mimic the rum of the days of yore which were aged and then transported in old port or sherry casks around the world.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a delicate sweetness on the nose that feels like packed brown sugar next to tart red berries with a touch of stem and seeds still mixed in. The taste holds onto the sugar as hints of espresso beans and dark chocolate mix with the berries as notes of soft vanilla, pear, and cinnamon spice mingle on the back end. The finish takes its time ends on an almost savory note reminiscent of fresh pumpkin with a touch of sage.
Bottom Line:
This takes you on a great journey from nose to finish. It’s unique and very easy to drink without any one element overpowering the rest. You won’t even need to add a rock to this one to enjoy it.
This expression is what happens when you let quality rum rest a little longer to really dig deep on flavors. Each rum in the blend has been aged at least 12 years (some many more) and is hand-selected by legendary blender Joy Spence for its exactness in texture and flavor.
Tasting Notes:
This opens with a mix of dried fruits, nuts, and holiday spice that’s very close to a holiday fruit cake in all the best ways. There’s a nougat creaminess to the body that plays well with those dried fruits and spices. A touch of the Jamaican hogo, or funk, does come through but it’s muted next to the sweet and spice elements. This is very easy to sip and notably velvety.
Bottom Line:
This is a super easy sipper that mostly gets used in cocktails. While we’re not complaining since this makes great cocktails, don’t sleep on pouring this over some rocks and enjoying it at the end of the day.
This Guatemalan rum is a serious bottle. The sugar cane honey is derived from single estate cane grown in the highlands. The first-press sugar cane juice is fermented with pineapple yeast before distillation. The juice is then aged in a combination of ex-bourbon, Oloroso sherry, and Pedro Ximenez sherry casks for six to 23 years (again, the “23” is just the oldest barrel in the blend and not the age statement).
Tasting Notes:
Subtlety is the biggest note. There’s a dark chocolate bitterness touched by cinnamon spice, a hint of citrus, a waft of vanilla, and a dose of funk. The sip has a deep woodiness that carries hints of fresh tobacco, fatty nuts, thin molasses, and fresh, almost juicy, spices through a lingering finish.
Bottom Line:
You can go back and forth on this dark rum. Sometimes it feels like a standard workhorse rum for mixing and sipping. Other times, it feels like a really solid sipper at a great price that you wouldn’t think of mixing. The point is, it’s good for both so enjoy it how you want to.
1. Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva
Diplomatico
ABV: 40%
Average Price: $40
The Rum:
This Venezuelan rum is a blend of a minimum of 12-year-old juice made from both sugarcane honey and molasses. The rums were aged in ex-bourbon barrels high up in the Amazonia before blending, proofing, and bottling.
Tasting Notes:
Dark, almost burnt, sugars lead you towards rich and butter toffee with a brittle edge and a dusting of eggnog spice that’s heavy on the nutmeg. That buttery nature really drives the taste towards a vanilla buttercream next to moist marzipan and a touch of tobacco sweetness. The finish arrives with a sprinkling of orange zest and holiday spices with a final dry walnut shell end.
Bottom Line:
There’s really not any rum on his list that comes close to this when it comes to the flavor or price. This is damn near perfect rum (at any price point) that is almost too easy to drink. You can’t go wrong pouring some of this into a glass (rocks optional).
When the Austin, Texas band Sun June released their standout sophomore album Somewhere last February, it came during a standstill in the live music industry. Vaccines were still months away from being widely available in the US and many cities were still in lockdown, meaning Sun June celebrated their album’s release from their homes. But now that live music is back, Sun June hopes to bring Somewhere (and a little extra!) to the road next year with a deluxe version of their LP.
The band returned Tuesday to drop the brand-new track “Easy,” a wistful tune that’s drenched in sunny guitars and poetically details memory, a wish for the simpler times, and a dissolving relationship. The new single officially heralds Somewhere +3, the upcoming deluxe album that boasts three unreleased tracks.
In a statement about the new song, vocalist Laura Colwell explained her inspiration behind its lyrics:
“‘Easy’ is a romantic struggle song. It’s about love and partnership and longstanding arguments that are hard to get past. We started working on it after quarantine was lifted. Everyone had been cloistered alone for months, so frustration was easy to tap into. At the same time, it was joyous and cathartic to play together again, so the song came out upbeat and optimistic too. We loved getting to return to Good Danny’s studio to record — it was easy to find the sounds we wanted and get back into the Somewhere vibe.”
If Bravo ever decides to bring back The Real Housewives of D.C., they might want to consider making Mitch McConnell an honorary cast member as he seems to live for stirring sh*t up. As Politico reports, ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl’s new book Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show reveals that the then-Senate majority leader—who seemed firmly on board the Trump train throughout his presidency—actively worked to have Donald be disinvited from incoming president Joe Biden’s inauguration.
According to Politico, McConnell’s push to exclude Trump from any of Biden’s inaugural events came in the wake of the January 6th insurrection when, as Karl writes, McConnell “felt he could not give Trump another opportunity to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.”
To add insult to injury, McConnell reportedly wanted the disinvite to be made official with a letter from the four top leaders in Congress, but House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy wasn’t into it. Ultimately, however, it didn’t matter. As McConnell pushed to involve more people in the disinvitation, word made its way to Trump about what was going on, and he wasn’t about to be embarrassed in front of the world. So he beat them to the punch and tweeted (back when he was allowed to do that) that he had no plans to attend the inauguration—or even be around by the time the Bidens arrived at the White House.
Karl also reports that in late May, Trump critic Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) texted McConnell to say she believed Senate Republicans made a mistake by blocking the creation of a bipartisan commission to examine Jan. 6. A month later, McConnell called Cheney to say she should move on, and that challenging Trump would only hurt Republicans in the upcoming elections and jeopardize her own reelection campaign.
The human mind will do incredible things when you place it in different physical locations. This is the concept that Big Thief has explored in creating their newly announced album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You. The band spent five months moving between Upstate New York, California’s Topanga Canyon, the Colorado Rockies, and then Tucson, Arizona, trying to capture the different facets of Adrianne Lenker’s songwriting and pinpointing the nuance of the band’s affecting sound.
They plucked 20 of the 45 songs from those sessions to appear on the new double LP, which comes out on February 11th and is produced by drummer James Krivchenia. The result not only aims to capture the essence of the band, but to also reflect the inspiration of each unique locale. For example, “Certainty” and “Sparrow” came from the sessions in grassy Upstate New York, whereas album opener “Change” was rooted in the the Rockies. “Little Things” and the newly released “Time Escaping” came out of the natural psychedelia of Topanga Canyon. According to Lenker, putting a finger on what defines the band is a group was a little more supernatural than expected, as she said in a statement:
“One of the things that bonds us together as a band is pure magic. I think we all have the same guide and none of us have ever spoken what it is because we couldn’t name it, but somehow, we are all going for the same thing, and when we hit it… we all know it’s it, but none of us to this day, or maybe ever, will be able to articulate in words what the ‘it’ is. Something about it is magic to me.”
Listen to “Time Escaping” above and check out the Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You album artwork and tracklist below, as well as Big Thief’s 2022 tour dates.
Big Thief
1. “Change”
2. “Time Escaping”
3. “Spud Infinity”
4. “Certainty”
5. “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You”
6. “Sparrow”
7. “Little Things”
8. “Heavy Bend”
9. “Flower Of Blood”
10. “Blurred View”
11. “Red Moon”
12. “Dried Roses”
13. “No Reason”
14. “Wake Me Up To Drive”
15. “Promise Is A Pendulum”
16. “12,000 Lines”
17. “Simulation Swarm”
18. “Love Love Love”
19. “The Only Place”
20. “Blue Lightning”
01/31/2022 — Lille, FR @ L’Aéronef
02/01/2022 — Paris, FR @ La Cigale
02/04/2022 — Bordeaux, FR @ Rock School Barbey
02/05/2022 — Barcelona, ES @ Sala Apolo
02/07/2022 — Lyon, FR @ Le Transbordeur
02/08/2022 — Strasbourg, FR @ La Laiterie Artefact
02/09/2022 — Zurich, CH @ Kaufleuten
02/10/2022 — Munich, DE @ Cafe Muffathalle
02/12/2022 — Prague, CZ @ MeetFactory
02/13/2022 — Berlin, DE @ Huxleys Neue Welt
02/15/2022 — Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA
02/16/2022 — Hamburg, DE @ Fabrik
02/18/2022 — Cologne, DE @ Live Music Hall
02/19/2022 — Brussels, BE @ Cirque Royal
02/21/2022 — Utrecht, NL @ Tivoli Vredgenburg
02/22/2022 — Groningen, NL @ De Oosterpoort
02/24/2022 — Manchester, GB @ Manchester Academy
02/25/2022 — Glasgow, GB @ Barrowland Ballroom
02/26/2022 — Dublin, IE @ The National Stadium
02/27/2022 — Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy Bristol
03/02/2022 — London, GB @ 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
03/03/2022 — London, GB @ 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
03/04/2022 — London, GB @ 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
04/12/2022 — Ithaca, NY @ State Theatre
04/16/2022 — Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre
04/18/2022 — Montreal, QUE @ L’Olympia
04/19/2022 — Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall
04/21/2022 — Washington, DC @ The Anthem
04/22/2022 — Cleveland, OH @ Agora Ballroom
04/23/2022 — Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
04/25/2022 — Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre
04/26/2022 — Milwaukee, WI @ The Pabst Theater
04/27/2022 — St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre
04/29/2022 — Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
04/30/2022 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall
05/02/2022 — Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
05/03/2022 — Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
05/04/2022 — Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
05/07/2022 — Oakland, CA @ Fox Theatre
05/10/2022 — Los Angeles, CA @ Wiltern Theatre
05/11/2022 — Los Angeles, CA @ Wiltern Theatre
05/12/2022 — San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park
05/14/2022 — Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriet’s
06/09/2022 — Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound 2022
06/10-12/2022 — Berlin, DE @ Tempelhof Sounds
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You is out 02/11/22 via 4AD. Pre-order it here.
Add Corey Lewandowski to the list of Donald Trump toadies who had a falling out with their leader then opted to spill their behind-the-scenes tales of what it’s really like in MAGA Land. In Lewandowski’s case, he confessed them to ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl. And what he revealed was essentially that everyone, including Trump, knew he had lost the 2020 election—but that the then-president’s supersized and hypersensitive ego just wouldn’t allow him to admit it, which is how “The Big Lie” was born, as Karl explains in his new book, Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show, as Insider reports.
In the days following the 2020 election and Joe Biden being declared president last November, Karl spoke with Lewandowski, who was Trump’s campaign manager for the 2016 election, but reportedly ousted from Trump’s circle of trust just a few months back when he was hit with claims of sexual harassment… and oddly bragged about being a murderer. At the time of their conversation, Trump was making it clear that he was not about to concede the election, which didn’t seem to surprise Lewandowski in the slightest.
“He knows it is over,” Lewandowski told Karl. “He just wants to create enough doubt about Biden’s victory so that when he leaves he can say he didn’t lose and that it was stolen from him.”
Sadly, Trump’s inability to accept and/or acknowledge failure, despite having much experience with it, has had far-reaching consequences. To this day, more than a year later, Trump has still not conceded the election and has continued to run amok with his “rigged election” lies. As Insider notes, several recent polls have shown that a majority of Republicans really do believe the narrative that Trump concocted about the presidency being stolen from him. They also cited a recent NPR poll which determined that only one-third of Republicans polled “said they trust elections in the country either a great deal or a good amount.” And all because of one man’s unwillingness to accept defeat.
Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show is out today.
After abruptly abandoning her seat on the panel in 2017, paving the way for Meghan McCain‘s reign of terror, former The View co-host Jedediah Bila returned to the daytime talk show for the first time on Tuesday to promote her new book. It did not go well.
While not uncommon these days, Bila was conducting her interview remotely, but it didn’t take long for Joy Behar to point out why that was the case: Bila wasn’t allowed in the studio because she’s unvaccinated. Not only that, but she claimed to have “sky-high, multi-tier, multi-faceted natural immunity.”
Once that “information” was out the in open, Bila, who recently left Fox News back in May, began railing against vaccine mandates, and her talking points about natural immunity got so out of hand, that Sunny Hostin started calling for the whole interview to be shut down.
Jedediah Bila was just on #TheView to promote her new book and things just went South. Like way South past the Mexico border South. The cohosts basically said she was too dangerous to be on air. pic.twitter.com/kt8nFKZid2
Bila defended herself by referring to the CDC’s warning that transmission is possible for vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Sunny Hostin shook her head at Bila’s argument and told her “I don’t understand why you would prioritize your personal freedom over the health and safety of others.”
“I don’t think we should allow this kind of misinformation on our air,” Hostin told Bila straight-up. “I’m really sorry, my friend. I’m really sorry.”
At that point, Whoopi Goldberg stepped in to end the segment because they were running out of time. However, things got very awkward when Whoopi let the audience know they’d all be receiving copies of Bila’s book despite the tense exchange that just went down. As always, Whoopi’s face said it all as The View cut to commercial.
Far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s favorite podcast host, Steve Bannon, languishes in jail after turning himself in on criminal contempt charges (related to Jan. 6), and she’s telling the world that she’s got his back. That’s to be expected, since not too many other outlets will let the QAnon cheerleader ramble to her heart’s content these days. Recently, Greene told Bannon that she doesn’t want anything to do with politics (although she did not promise). She is, however, here for Bannon and fully supports him after he freely admitted that he helpped to plot the failed MAGA coup.
Greene, of course, is very angry about a report that linked her to the insurrection, and she’s made a huge deal out of visiting Jan. 6 rioters in jail while vowing to enact prison reform (basically on her own). So, she’s very sympathetic to Bannon, and while speaking with Newsmax, the lawmaker that’s been disavowed by CrossFit went on the record to declare that she’s “Team Bannon all the way.”
She also declared, “They have picked on the wrong guy… because Steve Bannon will not go quietly.”
The thing is, Steve Bannon kind of did go quietly, given that he refused to appear in front of the House Select Committee (that’s investigating Jan. 6) when he was summoned by subpoena. Further, the former Trump chief strategist turned himself in at the FBI Washington Field Office while wearing a smirk, and he simply told reporters that he’d be “going on the offense.” To add even more vagueness to the equation, Bannon vowed, “This is going to be the misdemeanor from hell.”
No word yet on whether Marjorie Taylor Greene is planning to visit Bannon behind bars, but if it happens, she’ll surely tell the world what happens.
Being able to point to a list of notable alumni has long been a source of pride for many colleges and universities, and a way to woo prospective students to apply. Then there are the notorious alumni… For the same reason the University of Washington doesn’t readily promote itself as Ted Bundy’s alma mater, students at Syracuse University would rather not have Rudy Giuliani associated with their school—particularly as his degree is an honorary one. As such, The College Post reports that the university’s Student Association and Student Bar Association are currently petitioning the school to revoke the honorary doctorate that was bestowed upon Giuliani by Syracuse’s College of Law.
“When he received his honorary degree back in 1989, he might have portrayed the values or initiatives of the school then,” Mazzy Kaila, executive president of the Student Bar Association told The Daily Orange, Syracuse’s student newspaper. “I don’t think there’s any room for that now.”
It’s not the first time that Syracuse students have taken issue with the disgraced former mayor of New York City, whose own license to practice law in the state of New York has been suspended. According to The College Post, “Giuliani first faced a backlash at SU when he was invited to be the commencement speaker in 2002. The then-mayor of New York City faced flak for his policing practices following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.”
Nor would rescinding Rudy’s degree be unprecedented. As the face of Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, Giuliani’s professionalism—and at times, his sobriety—have been called into question as he’s pushed The Big Lie. On January 12, 2021, less than a week after the insurrection on the Capitol, Vermont’s Middlebury College took back its 2005 honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Rudy, and in August, Philadelphia’s Drexel University revoked the honorary degree its law school granted to Giuliani back in 2009.
“He has been suspended for his law license, and undermined our elections, and has advocated for really, really absurd things,” Student Association president David Bruen told The College Post. “He still has an honorary degree from this university. And I think the longer that lasts, the more it kind of devalues an honorary degree from the College of Law.”
Now it’s up to the school’s administration to take further action.
Break out the pumpkin pasties and butterbeer, something wickedly wonderful this way comes. To help celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Warner Bros. has announced a massive Harry Potter reunion special is coming to HBO Max (via The Wrap). Debuting at midnight on New Year’s Eve, Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwartsis billed to be an in-depth retrospective featuring never-before-seen footage, and best of all, Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) will all be in attendance.
According to HBO’s description, Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwartswill be an “enchanting making-of story through all-new in-depth interviews and cast conversations, inviting fans on a magical first-person journey through one of the most beloved film franchises of all time.” However, there is always the hope Warner Bros. could announce new Harry Potter projects are in the works, such as a reboot Radcliffe recently joked about or perhaps even an adaptation of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Tom Ascheim, president of Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics, called the special not merely retrospective, but a tribute to “everyone whose lives were touched by this cultural phenomenon.”
“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. 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 the film’s “golden trio,” filmmaker Chris Columbus — the director behind the first two Harry Potter films — and over a dozen other main cast members will also make appearances on the special. Among those confirmed so far are Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Imelda Staunton, Tom Felton, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Mark Williams, Bonnie Wright, Alfred Enoch, Matthew Lewis, Evanna Lynch, and Ian Hart, though others are rumored to be coming.
Following its HBO Max premiere, Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts will also air on both TBS and Cartoon Network in spring 2022, just ahead of the theatrical release of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, the third installment in the ongoing Fantastic Beasts prequel series.
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