Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts

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.

Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts
Promotional poster
Based onHarry Potter
by Warner Bros. Pictures
Directed by
Starring
Narrated byStephen Fry
Music byCharlie Mole
Country of origin
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producers
  • Casey Patterson
  • Carol Donova
  • Ashley Edens
  • Marisa Clifford
  • Louis Mole
  • Sam Bridger
  • Isabel Davis
  • David Heyman
Producers
  • Lottie Allen
  • Alice Cady
  • Rosa Junkovic
  • Maryam Lamond
Production locationWarner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter
Cinematography
  • Simon Fanthorpe
  • Sebastian Feehan
  • Geoffrey Sentamu
Editors
  • Simon Bryant
  • Jim Clark
  • James Collett
  • Bill DeRonde
  • Asaf Eisenberg
  • Will Gilby
  • Lior Linevitz
  • Pablo Noe
  • Tim Perniciaro
  • Jacob Proctor
Running time102 minutes
Production companies
Release
Original networkHBO Max
Original release1 January 2022 (2022-01-01)

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 also marked Coltrane's final on-screen appearance before his death in October that year.

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, Rob Knox and Richard Harris.[3]

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.[4]

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 Telegraph's Ed Power put it, consequent "public rebuke by the series' stars".[5] 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 surrounding her remarks on transgender issues.[6]

Filming

The special was filmed at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter in Leavesden, England.[4]

Corrections

In the initial release, a childhood image of Emma Roberts taken from Google Images 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.[7][8]

Music

The music for the TV Special was composed by Charlie Mole.[9] 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 Synchron Stage Orchestra in Vienna, conducted by James Seymour Brett.[10]

Release

Return to Hogwarts was released on HBO Max on 1 January 2022.[4] The special aired on 10 April 2022 on TBS, and on Cartoon Network ahead of the release of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.[4] It was later released on both Blu-ray and DVD on 9 August 2022.[11]

List of international distributors
Region Broadcaster(s) Ref(s)
Asia (selected countries) HBO Go [12]
 Australia Binge [13]
 Belgium Streamz (Flanders in Dutch)
Tipik and Auvio (Wallonia in French)		 [14][15]
 Canada Crave (in English and French) [16]
Central and Eastern Europe (selected countries) HBO Go [17]
 France Salto [18]
 Germany Sky [19]
 India Prime Video [20]
 Vietnam FPT Telecom [21]
 Ireland Sky and Now [22]
 Israel Yes [23]
 Italy Sky [17]
Latin America and Caribbean HBO Max [24]
 New Zealand TVNZ 2 and TVNZ OnDemand [25]
Middle East (selected countries) OSN [26]
Nordic countries HBO Max [17]
 Russia Amediateka [17]
 Spain HBO Max [17]
  Switzerland Sky (in German)
RTS 1 (in French)		 [27][28]
 Portugal HBO Portugal [17]
 United Kingdom Sky and Now [29][17]
 United States HBO Max [4]

Reception

Critical response

On the review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the special has a 93% approval rating with an average rating of 7.5/10, based on 27 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."[30] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 65 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[31]

Accolades
Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
2022
 Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards Best Streaming Variety Sketch Series, Talk Series, or Special Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts Nominated [32]
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		 Nominated [33]
[34]
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		 Nominated

References
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  2. O'Connor, Roisin (28 December 2021). "Return to Hogwarts: JK Rowling not 'snubbed' as she makes appearance in Harry Potter reunion". The Independent. Archived from the original on 29 December 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  3. "Harry Potter stars pay tribute to Alan Rickman and Helen McCrory". Digital Spy. 29 December 2021. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  4. Spangler, Todd (16 November 2021). "Harry Potter 'Return to Hogwarts' Special to Reunite Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint for HBO Max". Variety. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
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  6. Romano, Nick (30 December 2021). "Why J.K. Rowling didn't join the Harry Potter reunion for the Return to Hogwarts special". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 4 January 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
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