Daniel Radcliffe Reveals Why He'll Likely Never Return to Harry Potter

After starring as the titular character in a whopping eight live-action Harry Potter movies, Daniel Radcliffe doesn't seem interested in picking up his wand again, at least not any time soon. During a recent interview, Radcliffe was asked whether or not he'd ever like to play Harry Potter again, potentially in some sort of flash-forward in the Fantastic Beasts movies. He didn't seem in any rush to head back to Hogwarts.

"I don't think so," Radcliffe told Variety. "I don't like say no to things, but it's not something that I'm rushing to do. I feel like those films have moved on and they're doing just fine without us. I'm happy to keep it that way. I like what my life is now. I'm not saying that I'll never go back into any franchise, but I like the flexibility that I have with my career now. And I don't want to get into a situation where I'm signed up for one series for years in advance."

Radcliffe's turn as Harry Potter defined the majority of his career, starring as the beloved character on the big screen from 2001 to 2011. In the years since the final film in the series, Radcliffe has moved his career in a much different direction, appearing in quite a few quirky indie projects, rather than turning back toward franchise fare.

This has caused fans to say that Radcliffe's career has taken a "weird" turn in recent years, but he insists that he's just joined projects that he likes.

"I accept the label in that there's nothing I've shied away from," he added. "But I wasn't like, 'find me the weirdest thing out there.' I wasn't picking projects that were weird for weird's sake. Swiss Army Man was weird in that it's about a farting corpse coming back to life and that's not for everybody. At the same time, it's an incredibly smart film that has something beautiful to say about being human. I've done Guns Akimbo, where I've had guns bolted to my hands, but I've also done Escape From Pretoria, which is really grounded in reality. I think people saw me play one thing for so long that it seems more notable that I do loads of different stuff now."

It doesn't sound like there will be any sort of Harry Potter return in the near future, or potentially ever. Radcliffe is perfectly happy with his wide-ranging roles.