'Harry Potter' Reunion Special Lands On HBO Max On New Year's Day
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint will reunite for HBO Max Harry Potter special
After giving us a Friends reunion and a Sex and the City reboot, HBO Max is proving to be the go-to spot for 30-somethings who desperately need a strong hit of yesteryear, because the streaming network has just announced their biggest millennial nostalgia reboot yet, a Harry Potter reunion special dropping early next year.
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson will join Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone director Chris Columbus and other cast members from all eight Harry Potter films for an “HBO Max retrospective special” to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the first film. Yes, you read that correctly. It’s been 20 years since you camped outside the movie theater to see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone for the first time.
Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts will premiere on HBO Max on New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, 2022.
According to HBO Max (via Variety), the special is “an enchanting making-of story through all-new, in-depth interviews and cast conversations.” And when we said, “other cast members,” we literally mean everyone. We’re talking 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, to name a few.
“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,” a Warner Bros. exec said in a statement. “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.”
This new Harry Potter special seems inspired by the wildly popular Friends reunion from May 2021 which saw Jennifer Aniston and the gang revisit the actual Warner Bros. sets where they filmed the beloved television series. For the upcoming wizarding retrospective, the Harry Potter cast will also reunite and tour the “original sets of Hogwarts” at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: “The Making of Harry Potter” exhibit.
Emma Watson shared a loving tribute to the series that made her, and Hermione, a household name, writing on Instagram in part, “Harry Potter was my home, my family, my world and Hermione (still is) my favorite fictional character of all time.”
If you can’t wait until January 1, 2022 for this exclusive HP content, a “first look” at the special will debut during the premiere of the new quiz show Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses. The Hogwarts-inspired competition show will air on November 28, 2021 on TBS and Cartoon Network and will offer fans a sneak peek at the forthcoming Return to Hogwarts.
“For the first time ever, the legendary cast returns to where the magic started.” Can. Not. Wait.
