Chris Columbus, the filmmaker who helped launch the Harry Potter phenomenon on the big screen, has made it clear he has no interest in returning for HBO’s upcoming small-screen reboot.
Columbus, who directed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) and later produced Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), said his time at Hogwarts is firmly behind him. “No, I’ve done it, you saw my version,” he told Variety while promoting Netflix’s Thursday Murder Club in London. “There’s nothing left for me to do in the world of Potter.”
That doesn’t mean he opposes the series. While he previously criticised remakes of his other work, such as the 1990 classic Home Alone, Columbus welcomes a fresh take on J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world and even admits to feeling a tinge of envy. “The great thing about it is that with the first, and second, and third books, we wanted to do it all. We wanted to bring all of that onto the screen, and we didn’t have the opportunity,” he explained.
Among the moments he regrets not being able to film are Peeves the poltergeist, who was cut from the first movie, and a tense sequence in which Harry and Hermione face the risk of poisoning while drinking potions. “We could never get that incredible scene into the film, and I’m sure it’ll be in the HBO series. So for me, it’s an opportunity to bring all those scenes to life,” Columbus said.
Seeing new cast members Dominic McLaughlin and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead) filming in London brought back memories of his own time shooting with Daniel Radcliffe (Guns Akimbo) and Martin Bayfield (Wrath of the Titans). “Because it was exactly where we were 20 years ago!” he recalled.
Columbus also expressed deep pride in Radcliffe’s evolution from child star to acclaimed stage performer. “We learned a valuable lesson on Home Alone, so when David Heyman and I got into Potter, I said to him, ‘We need to cast the parents as well as the children…’ So we were hoping that the kids would turn out as well as they did.” He added, “There’s a sense of pride to see Daniel Radcliffe win a Tony Award. It was just remarkable.”
On J.K. Rowling’s controversies, Columbus offered a measured response: “I like sometimes to separate the artist from the art, I think that’s important to do. It’s unfortunate, what’s happened. I certainly don’t agree with what she’s talking about. But it’s just sad, it’s very sad.”
The Harry Potter series will bring the Wizarding World back to life for a whole new generation. onto screens on HBO Max in 2027.
Conversation with Ting Wei is like chatting with a weird AI bot programmed only with One Piece lore and theories, sitcom quotes and other miscellaneous pop culture references. When he’s not sleeping, he’s highly likely reading manga. In fact, the only thing he reads more than manga is the Bible, and it’s honestly pretty close.
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