Will Rupert Grint be catching the Hogwarts Express once again?
On Thursday, Feb. 4, the 32-year-old actor sounded off on the reported HBO Max Harry Potter series. As Grint relayed to Variety, he doesn't expect to be involved with the project—and he's not so keen to pass on the role of Ron Weasley—the character he played in all eight movies—to another star.
"It'll be weird if it was a continuation kind of thing," the British-born star shared. "I weirdly feel quite protective of that character. Even when I saw the stage shows, it was a very strange experience…If it's like a different group of friends, I guess it would be interesting."
This stance is slightly different than the one he shared back in December 2020. In a chat with Comicbook, Grint said "never say never" about reprising his role. "I would never say, 'Absolutely no,'" he explained. "It was a huge part of my life and I'm very fond of that character and their stories. So yeah, I mean, I'd be up for it at the right time. I don't know what capacity that would be, but yeah, we'll see."
At the end of January, The Hollywood Reporter claimed that a live-action Harry Potter series was in the early development stage at HBO Max. It was reported that executives were having conversations with potential writers as part of an exploratory stage. (At the time, HBO Max and Warner Bros. denied this report.)
The original Harry Potter films, which starred Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Grint, were distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. So, it would make sense that the WarnerMedia streaming service would be the home of this potential show—if it were to happen.
As for how Grint feels about the films, the dad to daughter Wednesday, 9 months, told Variety that he's only seen "the first three at the premieres."
He added, "Now that I have a daughter, I will probably have to watch them with her."
You can watch all eight of the Harry Potter films on Peacock.
(E! and Peacock are part of the NBCUniversal family.)