While talking about his own character Sirius Black, Gary Oldman mentioned that he wished that he had the ‘whole picture’. In the third film, Sirius was painted as as mass-murderer and a traitor, but as the book progressed, it turned out that he was actually good. When Oldman asked Radcliffe if he knew the future of his character, the actor answered, “Just Rickman. Rickman had the inside line.” Oldman was stunned and said, “Rickman? He worked that one out!” Radcliffe revealed that ‘very early’ on, Rickman had wanted to know the future of Snape’s story and asked series author JK Rowling. He never told anyone. Even director Chris Columbus would try asking him about certain scenes and he would just say, “I will tell you later.”
To Empire magazine, Rickman had revealed that he did not want to return to play the character as he felt that it was ‘nothing more than an unchanging costume’. However, author JK Rowling had told him the secret about his character, as well as the story behind the word ‘always’.
For the first several books, Severus Snape appears to be a sinister bully, who the headmaster Albus Dumbledore trusts for what appears to be an unfathomable reason. It later turns out that he was playing a double agent at great personal risk, and was fighting to protect Harry from Lord Voldemort, as he had ‘always’ been in love with Harry’s mother. Rickman in 2011 had told HitFix that Rowling had given him ‘one tiny, left of field piece of information’ about Snape. He said, “It helped me think that he was more complicated and that the story was not going to be as straight down the line as everybody thought.” This helped him realise that he was playing a rather ambiguous character.
We’ve all been eagerly awaiting the Harry Potter theme park, but honestly, it won’t be open soon enough. For Potter fans who want to experience a slice of the Wizarding World sooner, look out—because “Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience” is coming to the US. And we hear it’s downright magical.
What Is ‘A Forbidden Forest Experience?’
The Harry Potter-themed experience is an outdoor light trail that mimics the Forbidden Forest from the Harry Potter books. Sounds, lights and special effects bring the Wizarding World to life for fans, who can meet magical beasts and even interact with them! The experience is put together by award-winning theatrical designers and experiential creators, who want to make sure the Forbidden Forest fulfills our high expectations. You’ll be able to walk through the forest and come across Hippogriffs, Nifflers, unicorns and more fantastic creatures.
You can even cast spells, including a Patronus!
Then, when you’re done with the walk, head to the village nearby for Harry Potter-inspired food and drinks. We might even try Hagrid’s rock cakes.
When Will It Start?
After receiving rave reviews after its UK run, “Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience” will debut in the US on October 29, 2022. It’ll be set up in the woods of Morven Park in Leesburg, Virginia. You can expect the experience to take 60-90 minutes, of which 45-75 minutes will be spent on the walking trail itself. Don’t forget to buy a pack of butterbeer for the journey.
Tickets are going on sale at 11 a.m on July 28 on Fever, an events website, and cost $36 for adults and $25 for children. Fans who sign up for the waitlist will get exclusive access to secure tickets. You can bet we’re getting on that ASAP!
A lifelong Harry Potter fan has been seen as Hermione Granger’s doppelgänger since she was a toddler.
Ellie Rowe, 10, has been compared to the fictional character played by Emma Watson for as long as she can remember.
Her mother Rochelle Rowe, 28, was told her daughter looked like Granger at her wedding, back when Ellie was 3.
“At our wedding, my mother-in-law came up to me and said Ellie looked like Hermione,” Rochelle, a trainee nurse from Cornwall in the UK, told SWNS. “I hadn’t noticed until that moment, but then I thought ‘actually she does quite!’ ”
Rochelle said as Ellie started to grow up, she started to look “more and more like her every day.”
Ellie began to embrace her likeness to the character and would dress up as Hermione regularly.
Ellie Rowe would dress up as Hermione Granger.Rochelle Rowe / SWNS
“When Ellie dressed up in the outfit at around 6 or 7 years old it was quite bizarre as really she looked like Hermione’s double,” her mom said.
As Ellie has gotten older, her features have slightly outgrown those parallel to Granger’s, but there’s definitely still a strong resemblance.
“I have loved Harry Potter since I can remember and when people started to tell me that I looked like Hermione Granger it was so exciting,” Ellie shared.
“I even started to feel like I had magical powers and wanted to go to Hogwarts. I read the books with my mum first and then we watched the films,” she added. “I absolutely loved them at the time and I still do today!”
“Harry Potter” films as Ron Weasley, Rupert Grint says J.K. Rowling has become like a family member to him — though perhaps a problematic one.
During an interview with The Times published Saturday, Grint, 33, likened Rowling, 56, to an “auntie.”
“I don’t necessarily agree with everything my auntie says, but she’s still my auntie. It’s a tricky one,” Grint said.
Rowling continues to be a source of controversy after making headlines in 2020 with multiple posts online voicing opinions on the transgender community that conflated sex with gender and defended ideas suggesting that changing one’s biological sex threatens her own gender identity. She has doubled down even after the posts were widely perceived as transphobic, misinformative and hurtful.
‘Harry Potter’ reunion: How it addresses author J.K. Rowling’s anti-trans controversy
Grint later explained in an Esquire interview published March 2021, that he still is “hugely grateful” for the acclaimed author, though he can still disagree with her views.
“I am hugely grateful (for) everything that she’s done. I think that she’s extremely talented, and I mean, clearly, her works are genius,” he said. “But yeah, I think also you can have huge respect for someone and still disagree with things like that.”
“Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts.” Though she does not make a new appearance, the special included archival footage of Rowling from 2019 and featured new clips of the cast celebrating her books’ legacy and sharing how directions from the author influenced their performances.
Here’s what the rest of the “Harry Potter” franchise cast and crew has said about Rowling’s comments.
How trans fans are grappling with J.K. Rowling’s legacy after her transphobic comments
Daniel Radcliffe pens essay in support of trans community
Daniel Radcliffe responded to Rowling’s comments about gender and sex in a June 2020 essay for LGBTQ non-profit organization The Trevor Project, in which he criticized her views.
“Transgender women are women,” the actor, who starred as the title character in the film adaptation of Rowling’s fantasy series, wrote. “It’s clear that we need to do more to support transgender and nonbinary people, not invalidate their identities, and not cause further harm.”
Though Radcliffe noted that Rowling is “unquestionably responsible” for the course of his life, he added he still feels “compelled to say something at this moment.”
“To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished, I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you,” he continued. “I really hope that you don’t entirely lose what was valuable in these stories to you.”
Emma Watson stands behind trans community
The actress who brought Hermione Granger to life in the “Harry Potter” film series tweeted her support of trans people following Rowling’s controversial comments.
“Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are,” Emma Watson, 31, tweeted in 2020.
Watson assured the trans community and her trans followers that “I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are.”
She concluded her series of tweets by wishing “Happy #PRIDE2020” and encouraging everyone to donate to the LGBTQ U.K. charity Mermaids and Mama Cash’s women’s fund.
Eddie Redmayne says he disagrees with J.K. Rowling’s comments
Actor Eddie Redmayne, who worked with Rowling in the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise, publicly condemned the author for her comments on Twitter.
“As someone who has worked with both J.K. Rowling and members of the trans community, I wanted to make it absolutely clear where I stand,” he wrote in a statement provided to Variety June 2020. Redmayne also played transgender pioneer Lili Elbe in the film “The Danish Girl.”
“I disagree with Jo’s comments. Trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary identities are valid. I would never want to speak on behalf of the community but I do know that my dear transgender friends and colleagues are tired of this constant questioning of their identities, which all too often results in violence and abuse,” Redmayne said. “They simply want to live their lives peacefully, and it’s time to let them do so.”
Chris Rankin praises trans community: ‘We love you’
The actor who portrayed Ron Weasley’s older brother Percy Weasley showed his support to the trans community in a June 2020 tweet.
“My beautiful, brave, strong, trans friends and house of #ChrisNess family. We love you. I can’t say it enough. You’re wonderful, and deserve to be treated as such. Please know that. Be proud of who you are. We are proud of you,” Rankin tweeted.
Dave Chappelle says he’s ‘Team TERF,’ defends J.K. Rowling in new Netflix comedy special
Ready for the weekend? Humble Bundle just put up the Fantastic Journeys: Middle-earth and Beyond bundle and it’s actually pretty darn good. As usual now I’ll be going over each game to list the Steam Deck Verified rating plus either Native Linux status or ProtonDB ranking so you’ve got the full picture.
A set of first edition Harry Potter books signed by JK Rowling failed to sell at auction last week. On July 13, a Christie’s Valuable Books and Manuscripts auction in London presented a complete set of Harry Potter books, each of which were signed or inscribed by the author herself.
The extraordinary set was offered to the auction by Livraria Lello, a Portuguese bookshop dubbed ‘the most beautiful bookstore in the world’, with a portion of the proceeds going to Gloucestershire-raised Rowling‘s charity, the Lumos Foundation. It included an ultra-rare hardback first edition, first impression of the first instalment in the hugely popular series, ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone‘, complete with the ‘wand’ error on page 53 and the misspelling of ‘Philosopher’s’ on its back cover – the first version of its kind to go on sale in seven years.
Published over the course of a decade, from 1997 to 2007, the set of seven books were anticipated to fetch £100,000 to £150,000 at auction. Despite first editions of the first book selling for a fair amount of money in recent times, this particular set went unsold.
Read more:Harry Potter: Quidditch league changes sport’s name to distance itself from J.K. Rowling
Just seven months ago, in December 2021, a first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone sold for over £356,000 at auction, whilst a signed first edition of the first book fetched over £220,000 at auction in June of this year, mere weeks before this ill-fated set went up for auction. The charity the sale of the books was hoped to support, Lumos, named after the light spell in Harry Potter, was founded by Rowling in 2005 to shed light on the root causes of family separation across the world, including poverty, conflict, and discrimination.
Families in Kenya, Moldova, Haiti, Jordan, Panama, and Colombia are supported by the charity. Lumos has pivoted its work in Ukraine and Moldova to reach vulnerable families caught up in the Ukraine crisis and provide them with food, medicine and hygiene supplies, in addition to reaching children with learning materials and psychosocial support.
This is not the first blow Rowling has been dealt recently, as it was announced that the sport of Quidditch will have its name changed to Quadball to distance it from the controversial author. Two reasons have been cited for the name change by three Quidditch organisations – the loss of ‘sponsorship and broadcast opportunities’ due to Warner Bros owning the copyright to the sport’s name, and Rowling’s ‘anti-trans positions’.
Due to this change, the organisations associated with the sport will be changing their names, too. Major League Quidditch and US Quidditch will now respectively be known as Major League Quadball and US Quadball. In the near future, it is anticipated that the International Quidditch Association will also be changing its name
The executive director of US Quadball, Mary Kimball, said in a statement reported by The Guardian: “In less than 20 years, our sport has grown from a few dozen college students in rural Vermont to a global phenomenon with thousands of players, semi-pro leagues and international championships. Our organizations are committed to continuing to push quadball forward.”
The sport’s new name, Quadball, refers to the number of balls on the field during games, as well as the number of player positions. 2005 was the year the once-fictional game was adapted into a real life sport and now 600 teams across the world play the sport in 40 different countries.
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Muggles and Wizards alike are setting their sights on Leesburg, Virginia, where a popular experience from the UK will make its stateside debut beckoning fans everywhere into The Forbidden Forest from the ultra-popular Harry Potterseries.
There was a Buzz Lightyear, Minions, Harry and Hermione, pirates, red-and-white striped Wallys and even a full set of teachers dressed as crayons at the Victorian school.
The contents of the Hogwarts Legacy collector’s edition and deluxe edition have appeared online.
As spotted by Reddit user u/BattleDashBR, hidden files on the Hogwarts Legacy website have been spotted that appear to show the various items included in the collectors and deluxe versions of the game.
It is unclear how long this file has been present on the website, however it is attached to links to large US retailers Best Buy and Game Stop, suggesting that the preorder campaign for these items could begin soon.
The majority of the items included in both editions appear to be cosmetics for use within the game. The trailers for the game have shown a wide range of customisation options, but it’s unclear at this stage if these items would be exclusive to these editions or simply early unlockables.
Mounts have been shown as part of the initial trailer and the recent State of Play, however, the Thestral, which is a skeletal horse only visible to people in the Wizarding World who have witnessed death, have yet to be shown as a mount.
The collector’s edition also is said to feature a “Floating Ancient Magic Wand with Book”, which may be a physical item, as it’s not included in the deluxe edition.
In Hogwarts Legacy, the use of “Ancient Magic” is something unique to the player, allowing them to traverse through areas of Hogwarts untouched by normal students. The State of Play presentation suggested this would be the main crux of the game, so an item in the collector’s edition representing that would make sense.
Hogwarts Legacy Collector’s Edition
Hogwarts Legacy Deluxe Edition
Related
The eagle-eyed members of the Hogwarts Legacy subreddit recently uncovered another secret seemingly hiding in plain sight, a look at the game’s UI.
As posted to the r/HarryPotterGame subreddit, menu elements appear for as little as a few frames.
Due to be published under Warner’s Portkey Games label, it was originally scheduled to be released in 2021 for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC.
