In one of the more genuine moments, Emma Watson discusses how she almost left the series after the third feature. Take the reference to Leung, for example. It’s been 20 years and the lack of any desire to introspectively look at the good and, yes, the bad the series has created feels like a lazy way to cash in on nostalgia.
Towards the end, Emma Watson refers to Katie Leung, who played Harry Potter’s paramour Cho Chang, as a remarkable activist, yet Leung is only present in footage from the films, and there’s absolutely no discussion of the racism she experienced while making the films. Michael Gambon, who played Dumbledore for six of the eight films, isn’t even included in stock interviews for reasons that feel weird. Other performers, like Lewis, Tom Felton, and Bonnie Wright are just individual talking heads, which only enhances the feeling that these are leftover interviews saved up for a moment like this. Here, whether because of COVID or just individual schedules, we get more of a piecemeal reunion where actors are made to seem like they’re together more often than they are.ĭaniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson are together the most, but more often we get Radcliffe, Grint, or Watson quasi-interviewing other important members of the franchise, like director Chris Columbus. The “Friends” reunion had the core six back together again. There are no criticisms that can be lobbed at this series, because everything has been stage-managed to prohibit that. This is one of the main incongruities that’s immediately apparent about the special: scripted moments passed off as pure authenticity. Various invitations to come to this reunion are magically presented and we’re off to totally not planned moments where the cast is reunited for big hugs and bright smiles.
Emma Watson is casually perusing a second-hand book shop, Matthew Lewis is talking to a cab driver. The tone is set from the first minute, when a select few cast members are “discovered” just hanging around random places that aren’t at all a set. And, sure, there are moments that touch on darkness presented in this hour and 45 minutes, but they’re few and fleeting. But I did hope that maybe, 20 years after the release of the first feature film, there might be a desire to look at something, anything. has been fairly transparent that they still plan to work with Rowling, regardless of what she says.
Did I expect any of this to be touched on during HBO Max’s nearly two-hour reunion special? No.
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