Chris Columbus, who directed 2001’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and 2002’s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, doesn’t expect the films’ cast to reunite for related future projects. In an interview with The Times, the filmmaker confirmed that author J.K. Rowling’s anti-trans views make actors reluctant to be associated with her work.
When asked whether he wanted to direct a film adaptation of the stage show, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, using the original Potter movie cast, Columbus said, “It’s never going to happen.”
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“It’s gotten so complicated with all the political stuff,” the director explained. “Everyone in the cast has their own opinion, which is different from her opinion, which makes it impossible.” He added, “I haven’t spoken to Miss Rowling in a decade or so, so I have no idea what’s going on with her, but I keep very close contact with Daniel Radcliffe and I just spoke to him a few days ago. I still have a great relationship with all the kids in the cast.”
The original cast includes Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, and both Radcliffe and Watson have spoken out against Rowling’s controversial stance. Last year, Radcliffe said her viewpoint makes him “really sad.” “I do look at the person that I met, the times that we met, and the books that she wrote, and the world that she created, and all of that is to me so deeply empathic,” he said.
A month prior, Rowling said she wouldn’t forgive the stars who had spoken out against her, who include Radcliffe. She wrote on X, “Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces.”
A new multiseries adaptation of Rowling’s Harry Potter books is currently in production from HBO. It features a new cast, and is being helmed by showrunner Francesca Gardiner and director Mark Mylod (Game of Thrones, Succession, The Last of Us). In his interview, Columbus criticized the forthcoming series for “basically doing the same thing we did,” only using other actors.
“You have to understand that when Richard Harris passed away and Michael Gambon took over as Dumbledore that transition, even back then, was difficult for me,” he said. “So now it’s difficult imagining anyone else in these roles. I still see Alan Rickman, and I still see Maggie Smith and Robbie Coltrane. It’s part of my DNA and I can’t get beyond it.”
Earlier this year, HBO chief content officer Casey Bloys confirmed that Rowling is involved with the series, but her personal beliefs won’t seep into it. “It’s pretty clear that those are her personal, political views. She’s entitled to them,” Bloys said. “Harry Potter is not secretly being infused with anything. And if you want to debate her, you can go on Twitter.”
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