Starring in a massive Hollywood franchise can be an incredible opportunity for a young actor, serving as a launchpad for a career and opening the door for various creative endeavors. However, it can also be a very time-consuming process. The movies themselves often have lengthy production schedules, with filming spanning several months in some cases (and that’s before any required reshoots). Then there’s the press tour. With each installment, the film’s creative team, including the actors, go out to promote the project, doing countless interviews in the build-up to the premiere. For Harry Potter star Emma Watson, this aspect wasn’t very enjoyable.
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Speaking with Hollywood Authentic, Watson, who portrayed Hermione Granger in all eight Harry Potter movies, explained why she stepped away from acting for a prolonged period of time. “In some ways I really won the lottery [with acting], and what happened to me is so unusual. But a bigger component than the actual job itself is the promotion and selling of that piece of work, this piece of art,” she said. “The balance of that can get quite thrown off. I think I’ll be honest and straightforward, and say: I do not miss selling things. I found that to be quite soul-destroying. But I do very much miss using my skill-set, and I very much miss the art. I just found I got to do so little of the bit that I actually enjoyed.”
She continued, “The moment you get on a film set, you don’t get very long for rehearsal. But the moment you get to talk through a scene – or I got to prepare and think about how I wanted to do something – and then the minute the camera rolls, and getting to just completely forget about everything else in the world other than that one moment – it’s such an intense form of meditation. Because you just cannot be anywhere else. It’s so freeing. I miss that profoundly. But I don’t miss the pressure.”
Could Emma Watson Ever Return to the Harry Potter Franchise?
For years, Harry Potter fans have speculated about the possibility of adapting the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as a film, bringing back Watson and her former co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint for a legacy sequel that picks up years after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. Sadly, it does not appear a project like that will ever get off the ground. Chris Columbus, who directed the first two Harry Potter movies, called a Cursed Child film “impossible” due to the complicated relationship many of the cast have with series creator J.K. Rowling.
Even if such a film were plausible, it doesn’t sound like Watson would be too keen on returning. A Cursed Child movie adaptation would come with a substantial marketing campaign, and Warner Bros. would want someone as notable as Watson front and center. One of the key selling points of a Cursed Child film would be seeing the main trio from the original films together again, leading to Watson, Radcliffe, and Grint taking part in numerous interviews. If Watson finds the act of selling movies “soul-destroying,” she likely wouldn’t be interested in whatever promotional blowout WB would plan for The Cursed Child.
But a Cursed Child movie remains a hypothetical. There is a Harry Potter TV show in production for HBO Max. The odds of Watson appearing in that, however, are very low. The series is already facing the unavoidable comparisons to the movies, and the showrunners probably want to avoid casting anyone from the films. Watson would obviously be portraying a different role, but all her involvement would do is evoke memories of a film series that is still a major part of the pop culture zeitgeist. Even a cameo in a small part would run the risk of being distracting.
A Harry Potter return doesn’t seem like a possibility, but perhaps Watson could land a role in another major blockbuster franchise. Properties like Marvel, Star Wars, and DC have various projects in development, and one of them could be interested in utilizing Watson’s acting skill-set. Conceivably, Watson could negotiate something in her contract to minimize her participation in the inevitable marketing campaign, but it remains to be seen if she’d be game for something like that. She doesn’t miss “the pressure” that comes with acting, and starring in something like Star Wars or the DC Universe undoubtedly comes with a lot of pressure. She might just decide to stay out of the limelight, and she’s certainly earned that right.
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