{"id":112764,"date":"2025-09-01T21:41:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T21:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/112764\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T21:41:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T21:41:14","slug":"chris-columbus-says-harry-potter-reunion-is-never-going-to-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/112764\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Columbus Says ‘Harry Potter’ Reunion Is ‘Never Going to Happen’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tChris Columbus<\/a>, who directed 2001\u2019s\u00a0Harry Potter<\/a> and the Sorcerer\u2019s Stone\u00a0and 2002\u2019s\u00a0Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, doesn\u2019t expect the films\u2019 cast to reunite for related future projects. In an interview with The Times<\/a>, the filmmaker confirmed that author J.K. Rowling<\/a>\u2018s anti-trans views make actors reluctant to be associated with her work.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen asked whether he wanted to direct a film adaptation of the stage show,\u00a0Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, using the original Potter movie cast, Columbus said, \u201cIt\u2019s never going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s gotten so complicated with all the political stuff,\u201d the director explained. \u201cEveryone in the cast has their own opinion, which is different from her opinion, which makes it impossible.\u201d He added, \u201cI haven\u2019t spoken to Miss Rowling in a decade or so, so I have no idea what\u2019s going on with her, but I keep very close contact with Daniel Radcliffe<\/a> and I just spoke to him a few days ago. I still have a great relationship with all the kids in the cast.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe original cast includes Radcliffe, Rupert Grint<\/a>, and Emma Watson<\/a>, and both Radcliffe and Watson have spoken out against Rowling\u2019s controversial stance. Last year, Radcliffe said<\/a> her viewpoint makes him \u201creally sad.\u201d \u201cI do look at the person that I met, the times that we met, and the books that she wrote, and the world that she created, and all of that is to me so deeply empathic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tA month prior, Rowling said she wouldn\u2019t forgive the stars who had spoken out against her, who include Radcliffe. She wrote on X, \u201cCelebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women\u2019s hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA new multiseries adaptation of Rowling\u2019s Harry Potter books is currently in production from HBO. It features a new cast, and is being helmed by showrunner Francesca Gardiner and director Mark Mylod (Game of Thrones, Succession, The Last of Us). In his interview, Columbus criticized the forthcoming series for \u201cbasically doing the same thing we did,\u201d only using other actors.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou have to understand that when Richard Harris passed away and Michael Gambon took over as Dumbledore that transition, even back then, was difficult for me,\u201d he said. \u201cSo now it\u2019s difficult imagining anyone else in these roles. I still see Alan Rickman, and I still see Maggie Smith and Robbie Coltrane. It\u2019s part of my DNA and I can\u2019t get beyond it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tEarlier this year, HBO chief content officer Casey Bloys confirmed<\/a> that Rowling is involved with the series, but her personal beliefs won\u2019t seep into it. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty clear that those are her personal, political views. She\u2019s entitled to them,\u201d Bloys said.\u00a0\u201cHarry Potter\u00a0is not secretly being infused with anything. And if you want to debate her, you can go on Twitter.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris Columbus, who directed 2001\u2019s\u00a0Harry Potter and the Sorcerer\u2019s Stone\u00a0and 2002\u2019s\u00a0Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, doesn\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[49,48,58525,4203,4198,75,4199,19630,337,37317],"class_list":{"0":"post-112764","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-chris-columbus","11":"tag-daniel-radcliffe","12":"tag-emma-watson","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-harry-potter","15":"tag-j-k-rowling","16":"tag-movies","17":"tag-rupert-grint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}