Accio Trailer! The Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts trailer has apparated into our Muggle lives and it is time for us to return to the Wizarding World! Accio your brooms, use a pinch of Floo powder, get into a flying Ford Anglia, or hop on board the Hogwarts Express because the time for the long-awaited reunion is almost here!
The Return To Hogwarts trailer gave us a more insightful look at the reunion special that is airing on New Year’s Day and, boy, does it hit with the nostalgic feels from the get-go! Daniel Radcliffe’s voiceover from The Order of the Phoenix when he was teaching the members of Dumbledore’s Army to summon Patronuses starts the trailer: “Think of a powerful memory. Make it…the happiest you can remember.” And for many people, watching the Harry Potter movies growing up was among their happiest memories.
The nostalgia doesn’t end there. The Golden Trio take turns walking to the Hogwarts Express, reuniting with friends in the Great Hall, and talking to each other in the Gryffindor common room. There’s even footage of people dancing, which gives major flashback vibes to the Yule Ball that took place on Christmas Eve in The Goblet of Fire.
The Golden Trio aren’t the only ones talking in this trailer; Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange) and Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort) respectively talk about their favorite scenes and what happened when they got cast. They are so different from the characters that they play – and this goes for Tom Felton too! Hermione-Draco shippers (or maybe Emma-Tom shippers as well?) will be happy to know that they share a hug in the Great Hall, thus showing that their friendship is as strong as ever.
In addition to the villains of the Wizarding World, we also saw some of the Golden Trio’s friends: Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) was seen on the dance floor, Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley) was talking with her brothers, Fred and George (James and Oliver Phelps), alongside Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) and some others, and Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) and Alfred Enoch (Dean Thomas) were seen talking. Perhaps they might give some insight to the Luna-Dean love story in the books, which never made it into the movies!
The cast list is extensive and thoroughly exciting; aside from the aforementioned few, Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), Gary Oldman (Sirius Black), Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy), Mark Williams (Arthur Weasley), and others will be returning. On the producing and directing side, producer David Heyman and filmmakers Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell, and David Yates will participate in the reunion. HBO Max has also confirmed that the special will include comments from J.K. Rowling, but it does not seem as though she will appear in person during the special.
The trailer concluded with Rupert Grint’s wise words to his Harry Potter co-stars: “We’re family. We’ll always be part of each other’s lives.” Nothing truer could be said. That is the way many fans feel about the wizarding world and the world of Harry Potter that we all grew up loving. Now that the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary is almost upon us, I’m hoping that 19 years after the date that they filmed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, they reshoot the 19 years later scene on Platform 9 & 3/4s without having to digitally age up the actors. How fun would that be?!
New Year’s Day cannot come quickly enough! While you wait, check out our review of the poster here and the trailer of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore here!
FEATURED IMAGES FROM HBO MAX AND WIZARDING WORLD