Harry Potter Stars Managed to Master Movie
Here, a rundown of the Harry Potter stars you won't see while watching the reunion — unless you've somehow managed to master a Summoning Charm.
1. Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore)
The cast and creators of the upper-crust whodunnit recall the half-truths and hijinks required to get the film made. It took a bit of magic, and no small amount of mischief, for Robert Altman to get Gosford Park to the screen. Twenty years after its release, the film is now beloved, a deliciously witty British country house murder mystery. Set during a shooting party in 1932, it is fraught with sex, snobbery, and duplicity, with an emotional jolt at the end. The privileged class upstairs includes Michael Gambon as a boorish tycoon, Kristin Scott Thomas as his aristocratic wife, who loathes him, and Maggie Smith as her haughty aunt, the Countess of Trentham. Below stairs are the servants, including Helen Mirren as the housekeeper, Eileen Atkins as the cook, and the late Alan Bates as the butler, all with secrets of their own. Add the house party’s guests, their servants, and a bumbling detective, and the story is rich with layers of drama and playfulness. But it’s a wonder Gosford Park ever got made.
One of the most notable absences from the reunion is Michael Gambon, who played Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore for the majority of the Potter films. Gambon took over the role following the death of Richard Harris, who played Dumbledore in Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets.
2. Maggie Smith (Minerva McGonagall)
While decorated Downton Abbey star Maggie Smith appears in Return to Hogwarts via archive footage — J.K. Rowling–style — the erstwhile Professor McGonagall did not grace the reunion in person. In an ever-changing world, there are few reliable constants, and for many people, Dame Maggie Smith is just that. Smith began her acting career at 17 when she played Viola in "Twelfth Night" at the Oxford Playhouse in 1952, via Turner Classic Movies. She made her Broadway debut just a few years later in the "New Faces of '56" and was asked by Sir Laurence Olivier to join the National Theater Company in the 1960s. Smith quickly became a fixture in the theater world, winning numerous Tonys and other major awards throughout her lifetime.
Smith's impressive theater career was matched only by her film and television projects. Smith's first film credit was in "Nowhere to Go" in 1958, which landed her the first of her 18 BAFTA nominations. Smith would go on to win the "Triple Crown of Acting" a record seven times: an Academy Award, an Emmy, and a Tony, via The Washington Post. With her work ranging from drama to Shakespeare to comedy, Smith proved that she could do it all. While those who may have come across her in recent years may only know her as a dry, closed-off older woman hiding a secretly lovable or interesting side (per BBC), Smith's best film and TV roles show that she's much more than that.
3. Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory)
Twilight fans may recall that Robert Pattinson popped up in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as doomed Hufflepuff Cedric Diggory before taking on the role of Twilight's Edward Cullen. However, he does not pop up in the reunion special. Twilight studio executives found Robert Pattinson while looking through Harry Potter cast photos. The English actor began his film career in 2005 with a role in the fourth movie in the wizarding series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. At 18 years of age, Pattinson played the young wizard Cedric Diggory, the boy who competes for Hogwarts in the Triwizard Tournament alongside Harry and is murdered by Peter Pettigrew on Voldemort's orders in Little Hangleton.
After playing the relatively minor Harry Potter character in limited screen time, Pattinson went on to gain further recognition for his portrayal of the brooding vampire Edward Cullen alongside Kristen Stewart's Bella Swan in the Twilight film saga from 2008 to 2012, a series that ended up grossing over $3.3 billion worldwide. Pattinson has since starred in a number of independent projects from auteur directors, from David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis to Robert Eggers' The Lighthouse, before returning to the mainstream for Christopher Nolan's Tenet and Matt Reeves' The Batman. However, he has struggled to shed the personas of Cedric Diggory and certainly Edward Cullen.
4. Julie Walters (Molly Weasley)
Harry Potter may be a beloved franchise, but it's got some truly problematic tropes, including fatphobia.
Despite her onscreen husband Mark Williams appearing in Return to Hogwarts, Julie Walters, who played Weasley family matriarch Molly in six of the eight Potter films, does not. While it's unclear exactly why she sat out the reunion, it's worth noting that Walters revealed she would largely retire from acting in 2020, following a previously undisclosed bout of cancer.
There is no denying the Harry Potter franchise's cultural impact and overwhelming popularity, but as time has passed, certain aspects have aged poorer than others. Especially in the aftermath of author J.K. Rowling's repeated transphobic comments, many fans are returning to the franchise with a much more critical eye and examining the tropes and stereotypes with a different lens. One of the glaring issues with the series overall is its repeated instances of fatphobia and fat characters defined by hurtful stereotypes.
The most obvious and difficult to ignore instance of fatphobia is in the depiction of the Dursley family, specifically Vernon and Dudley, Harry's uncle and cousin. There is repeated emphasis placed on their weight, with connections drawn between their appearance and their overall goodness. Dudley is different from Harry because he is fat and cruel, whereas Harry is scrawny and kind.
5. David Thewlis (Remus Lupin)
Return to Hogwarts viewers won't see hide nor hair of David Thewlis, who played werewolf Remus Lupin starting with the series' third entry, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In the Harry Potter franchise, Sirius Black spent 13 years in Azkaban after being betrayed by a fellow Marauder.
Sirius Black is introduced in the third Harry Potter installment as the titular Prisoner of Azkaban, a dark and menacing figure feared by the Wizarding World almost as much as Voldemort himself. Everyone believes he's a mass murderer who betrayed Harry's parents to the Dark Side. But as the story unfolds, Harry slowly learns that not all is as it seems -- because, in actuality, Sirius was framed and wrongfully imprisoned. The truth of what happened on that Halloween night in 1981 is devastating and one of the most tragic events in Harry Potter.
Like many characters in the Harry Potter universe, Sirius had a deeply unhappy childhood. Born into an ancient Pureblood supremacist clan, he grew up as the black sheep in his family, especially after being sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin. Though his birth family scorned him and he felt no love for them in return, he found a true home with his fellow Gryffindors -- especially in the embrace of his best friends, the Marauders: James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.
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