The Harry Potter franchise is in an interesting spot at the moment. There are no new books on the horizon, the movie series is too fresh in the mind to be remade and the current flagbearer for the wizarding world, Fantastic Beasts, is still licking its wounds from the unexpected flop and critical mauling of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
For a while, it seemed as if Warner Bros. might ditch Fantastic Beasts altogether, but we now know they’re going ahead with a third movie. Still, there are persistent rumors that a big screen adaptation of the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is in the offing.
And if it does indeed happen, it’d be all but certain that the original cast would reprise their roles, albeit as middle-aged versions of the characters. Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy, is particularly enthusiastic about this. In a recent interview, he was asked about picking up his wand again and said:
“Yeah, I’m endlessly proud and affectionate of young Draco, so any chance to reprise that role would be great. I think we should come back and do the opposite, Rupert [Grint] should play Draco, I’ll play Hermione, Dan can play Dobby, and Emma can be Hagrid, it’s the perfect re-casting! It’ll be an interesting spin [on it]. But, seriously, if there was another chance to be in another movie then I’m sure all of us would jump at the chance to be part of it.”
He then went on to muse about the years since 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. You’ll recall that the final scene of the film is a flash-forward nineteen years later to the characters’ children attending their first day at Hogwarts.
“Wait now, hang on, it was 19 years later so I would have been nearly 40. Well, actually, I would have been 36, so I’m only four years off that, crikey. They aged me up like a grandpa!”
Despite denials to the contrary, I’m certain that one day we’ll indeed see these characters reprising their roles on screen. Though it may be a bit dented at the moment, Harry Potter remains absolutely beloved and as the fans of the books grow old and have their own children, they’ll be eager to introduce these stories to a new generation.