Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts is a television special released on 1 January 2022 on HBO Max. It is a reunion special for the cast and crew of the Harry Potter film series, marking the twentieth anniversary of the series' first instalment, The Philosopher's Stone. It was produced by Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Warner Horizon and executive produced by Casey Patterson.
The films' protagonist trio Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson appear throughout the special, along with surviving principal cast members Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Tom Felton, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Mark Williams, Bonnie Wright, Alfred Enoch, Ian Hart, Toby Jones, Matthew Lewis, and Evanna Lynch, producer David Heyman, and filmmakers Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell, and David Yates. The special was Coltrane's final on-screen appearance prior to his death on 14 October 2022.
Cast
The reunion features clips of and pays tribute to cast members who have since died, including Helen McCrory, Alan Rickman, John Hurt, Richard Griffiths, and Richard Harris.
Production Development In November 2021, Warner Bros. announced Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts, a retrospective special featuring the cast and filmmakers of the Harry Potter film series to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of the series' first instalment, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001). The special is produced by Warner Bros. Unscripted Television in association with Warner Horizon and executive produced by Casey Patterson.
Absence of J. K. Rowling J. K. Rowling—the author of the original Harry Potter book series, who had a significant role in the production of the film adaptations—is largely absent from the special. She appears for under thirty seconds in archival footage from her interviews in 2019 and is mentioned by some of the special's interviewees, but no advertisements for the special featured images of her. Critics speculated that this was due to her views on transgender issues and, as The Daily Telegraphs Ed Power put it, consequent "public rebuke by the series' stars". However, Entertainment Weekly reported that Rowling had been invited to appear but she felt that the archival footage was sufficient, with "sources close to the situation" denying that the author's decision was related to the controversy around her remarks on transgender issues.
Filming The special was filmed at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter in Leavesden, England.
Corrections In the initial release, a childhood image of Emma Roberts was mistakenly presented as an image of a young Watson, and Oliver and James Phelps are mislabelled as each other. By 3 January, these errors had been corrected in a new version.
Music Charlie Mole composed the music for the special. In addition, John Williams, who scored the first three Harry Potter films, re-recorded two of his compositions ("Hedwig's Theme" and "Harry's Wondrous World") for the special with the orchestra of Vienna Synchron Stage, conducted by James Seymour Brett.
Release Return to Hogwarts was released on HBO Max on 1 January 2022. The special aired on 10 April 2022 on TBS, and on Cartoon Network ahead of the release of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. It was later released on both Blu-ray and DVD on 9 August 2022.
+List of international distributorsRegionBroadcaster(s)Ref(s) Asia (selected countries) HBO Go Binge Streamz (Flanders in Dutch) Tipik and Auvio (Wallonia in French) Crave (in English and French) Central and Eastern Europe (selected countries) HBO Go Salto Sky Prime Video FPT Telecom Sky and Now Yes Sky Latin America and Caribbean HBO Max TVNZ 2 and TVNZ OnDemand Nordic countries HBO Max Amediateka HBO Max Sky (in German) RTS 1 (in French) HBO Portugal Sky and Now HBO Max
Reception Critical response On the review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the special has approval rating with an average rating of , based on reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Affectionate and revealing, Return to Hogwarts offers an intimate glimpse into how the making of the Harry Potter franchise delivered its own special kind of magic for those involved." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 65 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Accolades Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards Best Streaming Variety Sketch Series, Talk Series, or Special Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) Casey Patterson, Carol Donova, Ashley Edens, Marisa Clifford, Louis Mole, Sam Bridger, Isabel Davis, David Heyman, Rob Paine, Chase Simonds, Mike Darnell, Brooke Karzen, and Dan Sacks Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming Simon Bryant, Jim Clark, James Collett, Bill DeRonde, Asaf Eisenberg, Will Gilby, Lior Linevitz–Matthews, Pablo Noe, Tim Perniciaro, and Jacob Proctor
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