Harry Potter Director Returning For Sequel With Original Characters?
Here's what the original Harry Potter director has to say about getting the actors on board for a sequel.
This article is more than 2 years old
When Chris Columbus decided to direct the first Harry Potter movie, he believed he’d be fired in the first two weeks on the job. Today, the franchise is so huge it has its own theme park, but even when making the 2001 movie, Chris Columbus knew he had signed on for a huge project with a dedicated fanbase. Today, he has a dream project in mind. He wants to direct Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and he wants to do it using the original cast.
Currently, the franchise is focused on prequel movies, with Fantastic Beasts 3 scheduled to release in theaters on April 15, 2022. Those don’t include the original cast members. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a story that follows an adult Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. The story has been released as a book and as a play, where other actors are playing the characters. If Chris Columbus has his way, the project will come to the big screen, and audiences will again see Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint in their original roles.
I would love to direct The Cursed Child. It’s a great play and the kids are actually the right age to play those roles. It’s a small fantasy of mine.
Chris Columbus told Variety
For now, this is just a dream Chris Columbus has. However, the director was quick to point out that the actors are currently the right age to make this kind of project happen. Having the director of the first two Harry Potter movies want to make a sequel is a very big deal. While the studio would have to get all the original actors in place to really make the project work, there may be enough draw with Chris Columbus on board to make that movie happen.
While some fans love the Cursed Child story, others have been less positive. The story shows the characters as adults, and not everyone in the audience appreciated the way the characters’ lives went in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter sequel. If Cursed Child was made into a film with different actors, it may not be enough to draw such a large audience. If the original actors, especially the original trio, showed up for the next Harry Potter movie, it seems a safe bet that most fans would.
While Daniel Radcliffe has yet to reprise his most famous role, he has still always been game for talking about Harry Potter with fans. He doesn’t shy away from questions about the franchise, even when doing interviews for other projects. He talks about his favorite movie in the series (it was Order of the Phoenix), his time working with the other actors, and has been fine with entertaining questions about other characters he would be happy to play within the Harry Potter universe. He has said that he would happily play Remus Lupin or Sirius Black. But if Chris Columbus asks him to reprise his original role, will he? Fans will be waiting to see if it comes together before the trio age out of their Cursed Child roles.
