Original Harry Potter helmer Chris Columbus has since scrapped plans to adapt Broadway play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child since it’s “gotten so complicated” to be attached to the Wizarding World without acknowledging or being implicated by J.K. Rowling‘s transphobia.
In a new interview with The Times U.K., the Academy Award-nominated filmmaker said such a reunion with the original cast would be “impossible” and thus “never” take place.
“It’s never going to happen,” he told the outlet. “It’s gotten so complicated with all the political stuff. 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 Cursed Child, set nearly two decades after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, follows the title character’s second son as he navigates being sorted into the Slytherin House.
Elsewhere in the interview, the filmmaker reiterated his previous sentiments that HBO and Warner Bros. Television’s adaptation is “more of the same,” going further to add that it’s “difficult imagining anyone else” in the iconic roles originated by Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith and Robbie Coltrane.
The Thursday Murder Club director’s comments offer a stark departure from his past comments expressed earlier this year, during which he praised the reimagining as a “spectacular idea” given the inherent “restriction” when whittling material down into a feature film rather than a long-running series. Evidently, after seeing the first photos of characters like Hagrid and Harry Potter, the producer was left asking: “What’s the point?”
Earlier this week, Columbus also made it clear he “certainly” doesn’t agree with Rowling, calling her viewpoint “very sad” and admitting that he likes to “sometimes separate the artist from the art.”
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