Filmmaker Chris Columbus directed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, but left the franchise before work began on the third installment. Warner Bros. would try a couple of different directors before turning to David Yates (who worked on Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince, and the two-part Deathly Hallows).
Yates has stayed in the Wizarding World, directing both Fantastic Beasts films and the upcoming third chapter. His work on the series has been well-received for the most part, but Columbus has admitted in an interview with Collider that he hoped to possibly return for those final two chapters.
"I always wanted to go back and shoot the final two movies, but Yates decided he was gonna stay with the series, and it was a great thing to do because I particularly love the very last movie," the filmmaker admitted. "I think that is just a brilliant film, the second part of Deathly Hallows."
It sounds like Yates was once only planning to stick around for the one Harry Potter film, and had that happened, Warner Bros. may very well have turned to Columbus to finish the story he started. Seeing what he'd have done with J.K. Rowling's final book no doubt would have been extremely entertaining. Yates definitely managed to end the series in style, however.
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