The Harry Potter: Return to Hogwarts 20th Anniversary Special is now available to stream on HBO Max, and should be a must-watch for any fan of the Wizarding World.
The reunion is a joyful celebration of all things Harry Potter, but also gives the main cast members a chance to look back at their time playing these characters, growing up alongside them on and off-screen.
Back in 2007 around the time of Order of the Phoenix's release, reports did the rounds that Emma Watson was thinking about parting ways with the franchise and leaving the role of Hermione Grainger behind. We were never sure how close the actress actually came to calling it a day, but it sounds like she definitely gave it some serious consideration.
"I did find a diary entry that was kind of like… I could see that at times I was lonely," Watson recalls while discussing her potential departure with co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint. "The fame thing had finally hit home in a big way.[Order of the Phoenix] was when things started getting spicy for all of us. I think I was scared. I don't know if you ever felt like it got to a tipping point where you were like, 'This is kind of forever now.'"
"We never talked about it on the film because we were all just kids," Radcliffe adds. "As a 14-year-old boy, I was never gonna turn around to another 14-year-old and be like, 'Hey, how are you doing? Is everything okay?'"
Fortunately, Watson decided to stick it out, and in the end, nobody had to talk her into it. "The fans genuinely wanted me to succeed and all genuinely have each other's backs," she says. "How great is that?"
Did you guys tune in for the Return to Hogwarts special? If so, what did you think? Drop us a comment down below.