Revisiting the Harry Potter film series is always a holiday: we remember childhood, experience nostalgic feelings, feel magic, as if we ourselves are in the decorated Great Hall of Hogwarts at a table bursting with food, or we fight shoulder to shoulder with our beloved heroes against the forces of evil. Now fans are in for another surprise: reunion of all the stars of the film franchise in the special episode “Return to Hogwarts”dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the first film “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”.
It is hard to imagine that 20 years have passed. However, the cast and crew members continue to be a real family, which, even after a long break, is happy to get together. This meeting – pleasant memories of filming, interesting details, interesting facts, previously not voiced anywhere, and a new journey through everyone’s beloved history. In the meantime, we have collected for you some no less interesting facts that, if not surprising, then at least help you remember what you forgot before returning to Hogwarts.
Release date – January 1, 2021.
Special Episode Trailer:
Long road to success
But the original beloved series of children’s books might not have been: J.K. Rowling sent the first manuscript, completed in 1995, at 12 different publishers – and they all rejected it… Only a year later, the book was accepted by the small London publishing house Bloomsbury – and that mostly because the 8-year-old daughter of the chairman of the publishing house liked the first chapter, and the girl demanded a continuation.
That said, editor Barry Cunningham still advised Rowling to find a day job, as he did not believe she could make much money writing children’s books. But in the end she became first dollar billionairewho made so much money by writing.
Love for Hermione
Prior to filming, Rowling was somewhat hostile towards future Harry Potter screenwriter Steve Clovis, believing that he would “destroy her text.” But that attitude changed instantly when the question “Who is your favorite character in this story?” he replied, “Hermione.” This confession won over the writer, who put too many personal traits into the image of Hermione…
Rowling did not hide that the girl with the nature of a know-it-all was written off from herself. “She is a caricature of me at the age of 11,” she admitted in an interview. Wherein Pansy Parkinson, by her own admission, is the anti-Hermione, the personification of all the girls who teased Joan at school. Therefore, the author hates her and did not want Pansy to end up marrying Draco.
Severus Snape’s Diaries
Throughout his career, Alan Rickman kept diaries, where he concisely and with humor reflected on the acting and the roles played, left notes for the scripts. From these papers you can find out that he was unhappy with his role as Severus Snape, about which he wrote in the article “In Snape’s Head” during the filming of the movie “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”
However, the actor criticized his work in vain. Interestingly, he was the only person in the world who knew the ending of the seventh book long before its release… Rowling considered it necessary to familiarize Rickman with the whole story so that he fully understood the character and motivation of his character before filming began – perhaps that is why Snape’s fate caused such a response in the audience’s hearts.
Alan Rickman’s diaries will be published in fall 2022. And although the actor, alas, is not with us and we will not see him in the long-awaited special issue, later, thanks to these materials, we will certainly be able to learn a lot of new and interesting things about his character.
Who is the chosen one?
Present the chosen one could be Neville Longbottomas Rowling has often hinted at. Both boys were born at the end of July, the parents of both fought with the Dark Lord, and all this fits the prophecy. Harry, of course, had a special gift, being able to talk with snakes, but it is possible that we are talking about Neville’s amazing abilities in herbology. In addition, it was Longbottom who eventually killed Nagaina, who was the last Horcrux.
Perhaps it was for this reason that Professor Snape hated Neville so much. After all, if Voldemort had chosen the Longbottoms instead of the Potters as his target, Severus’s beloved Lily would have stayed alive…
Platform 9 3⁄4
In the trailer for the Return to Hogwarts special, you can see all the attributes of the Harry Potter universe – the Christmas atmosphere, the interiors of Hogwarts and, of course, platform 9 3⁄4, where all the adventures of young wizards begin. Rowling chose Kings Cross an important location in their books is no coincidence: in 1964, on a train bound for Scotland from this station, her parents met…
For Harry, the place between life and death was Kings Cross station, because for him it associated with moving between two worlds – the ordinary world and the world of wizards. But for each person, this place will look different.
Free education at Hogwarts
Since half of the events important for the plot take place at night, J.K. Rowling had to make Hogwarts not an ordinary school, but a closed educational institution. And on her Twitter, answering questions from fans, she mentioned that studying at Hogwarts does not cost a bag of galleons or thousands of dollars: it completely free and fully covered by the Ministry of Magic… Although school clothes, wand, textbooks, and potion ingredients will still have to be purchased on your own.
It is known that Muggles would see only Hogwarts at the site of the castle ruins and sign “Do not enter, danger zone”… Perhaps, on the site of some ruins of old castles, there is a school of magic and wizardry, we just do not know about it?
Rapper Ron
In character, Rupert Green in childhood was in many ways similar to his hero. So, he approached the casting for the main roles of the Golden Trio in a non-standard way: he sent the film crew a video where reads a rap about his desire to star in a film and states that he is perfect for the role of Ron Weasley, “because he has red hair.”
In an interview, Rupert admitted that he once painted ugly cartoon of Alan Rickman… Unfortunately, he stood behind him and saw the drawing, but did not get angry, but kept it as a keepsake.
Prior to filming Prisoner of Azkaban, a trio of young actors were asked to write an essay about their characters to better understand their characters. Emma Watson, as a true Gryffindor know-it-all, exceeded the required volume, Radcliffe sent 2 pages, and Grint didn’t pass anything at all, saying that this is exactly what his hero would do – and this approach pleased the director.
Unusual names
Dumbledore is an Old English word for bumblebee… Rowling believed that this name suits him very much, since you can often see the head of Hogwarts walking and humming and humming under his breath.
Voldemort’s original name comes from a French phrase, the approximate meaning of which is – “Escape from death”, and the main goal of the character is precisely to achieve immortality with the help of Horcruxes. It turns out that the correct pronunciation of the name is without the letter “T” at the end… Voldemort’s name is also anagram to his real name “Tom Marvolo Riddle”…
Draco might have had the last name “Spinks” or “Spungen”, but later the author changed them to “Malfoy”. This surname probably comes from a French phrase “Mal foi”which means “Bad faith”, or from the prefix “Mal” – “bad, evil”…
Dobby is free
The tragic death of the house elf Dobby and his farewell to Harry Potter have become one of the most touching moments in the entire series of films. As we remember, he died while helping Harry and his friends escape from the Malfoy estate, but was mortally wounded by Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry dug a grave for him without magic, and wrote on the headstone: “This is where Dobby rests, the free elf.”…
“Harry Potter!” Are the first and last words that Dobby says in the book.
V Wales on the beachfront Freshwater West fans figured out the exact place where the scenes of Dobby’s death and funeral were filmed, and there they opened small memorial with legendary inscription… Now this place can be visited by all loyal Potter fans who want to: they bring socks there and leave heartfelt messages.
The future of heroes
In the Christmas special, we’ll see how the actors in the franchise have changed over the years, but what happened in the future to the characters themselves? Harry Potter is known to have become obscurantistby joining the Ministry of Magic… His wife Ginny, after a career with the Quidditch team, began working as a sports journalist for The Daily Prophet.
Ron Weasley also went to the Aurors with Potter, but after a few years he left the service and together with his older brother George became a co-owner of a family business, having turned the shop “All Sorts of Magic Wreckers” into a large enterprise. Hermione, who became his wife, was the only one of the trinity who completed her education and made a brilliant career in the Ministry of Magic… She also found her parents in Australia and removed the imposed memory wiping spell.
Malfoy’s wife Astoria Greengrass, who gave him the son of Scorpius, died in 2019 from a family curse. Draco does not live in poverty, living on the means of his family and collecting magical artifacts.