As the start of 2022 was celebrated, Harry Potter fans around the world were counting down the minutes until the release of the much anticipated Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts. The special was released on HBO Max on the first day of the new year and featured the original cast of the globally renowned Harry Potter movie series. Return to Hogwarts offers a look back at the casting, filming, and release of the movies, which started with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 2001 and continued for seven more movies.
Return to Hogwarts is broken up into various chapters that cover the experiences of the cast and characters as the series progressed. The special, a mix between a documentary and extended interview, opens with the cast members reuniting 20 years after The Philosopher’s Stone was released to theaters. A recap of casting is done, showing audition clips and behind-the-scenes conversations with director Chris Columbus and the other directors that took over after his retirement from the series. The rest of the show features the original cast, including Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), and Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), talking about their experiences on-set and in real life as they filmed the Harry Potter saga. There is also a touching in-memoriam section that pays homage to the cast members who passed away before 2022, including Richard Harris (Dumbledore) and Alan Rickman (Severus Snape).
The cast relays the struggles they faced with being thrown into the public eye at such a young age, growing up on the set, and various awkward and hilarious experiences they went through during filming. Emma Watson opens up about her struggles with fame, and how she wanted to leave the franchise in the middle of filming of The Order of the Phoenix, due to how alone she felt when her co-stars, Radcliffe and Grint, were the best of friends. She spoke about the lack of female friends in the core group on set, and how that affected her mental health. The conversations between cast members shed light on the struggles of being cast into a multimillion dollar franchise at any age, let alone 11.
Return to Hogwarts is a nostalgic trip down memory lane. Being able to watch the cast grow up together, much like I did on screen, pulls at the heartstrings of many Potterheads. Our generation was raised on the story of Harry Potter — taking Sorting Hat quizzes to find our Hogwarts House, obsessively reading the books, and dressing up as the characters for Halloween. The end of the saga was the conclusion to a story that was a fundamental part of so many lives.
That being said, one aspect of the Harry Potter saga was noticeably absent: author J. K. Rowling. Following transphobic and generally hateful comments online, the public image of the creator of Harry Potter has become irrevocably tainted. For this reason, there were no current interviews with the writer in the new movie — only short clips filmed back in 2019. This nod to the LGBTQ+ community was appreciated, but it was too little, too late. Having mentions of Rowling at all, disclaimer of filming time or not, was definitely a questionable choice. But since the franchise decided to mention Rowling, they should have provided some kind of disclaimer, trigger warning, or explanation of their stance on her actions. Merely showing a few old clips with a tiny message about the filming date does not at all fix what the author has said, nor does it offer any kind of apology or recognition of the problems with her actions. One of the main themes in Harry Potter is friendship, of finding companionship when you are different, and many LGBTQ+ youth deeply connected to this message within the world of Harry Potter. Even in 2019, Rowling was making her hateful commentary known and using her large platform and fame to spread transphobic messages to millions. Separating the author from the work is entirely necessary in this case, and Return to Hogwarts fell short in that regard.
Return to Hogwarts is a heartwarming addition to the series, and was released at a time when it could offer hope to many people who are struggling with anxieties brought up by COVID-19, climate change, and political unrest. Unfortunately, the addition of more messages from Harry Potter’s transphobic author and the attention that will be brought back to her due to the release taints the overall theme of the movie.
Allison is starting her BA in English with a minor in Criminology to become a publishing contract lawyer. In her spare time, she watches way too many true crime shows and reads a lot of Y.A. fiction, while slugging along on various articles.
