Celebrity3 min(s) read
Published 13:14 31 Dec 2021 GMT
Emma Watson and Rupert Grint said they both considered quitting their roles in the Harry Potter film franchise because of the pressure childhood stardom put on their lives.
The cast joined forces for a one-off reunion to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Philosopher's Stone, and stars Rupert and Emma are just some of the familiar faces who'll be boarding the Hogwarts Express.
During the special on HBO Max, titled Return To Hogwarts, the pair - who respectively played Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley during its eight-film run - opened up about the downsides of fame.
"You were considering pulling out. I've never really spoken to you about that," Rupert said, according to a clip seen by ET Canada.
Emma responded: "Yeah. I think I was scared. I don't know if you ever felt like it got to a tipping point where you were like, 'This is kind of forever now.'"
Rupert later said that he also had moments "all the way through" his time as Weasley in the Harry Potter films when he would be "contemplating what life would be like if I called it a day."
Speaking about his anxieties from the time, Daniel Radcliffe, who played Potter, said: "We never really spoke about it. I guess we were just going through it at our own pace.
"We were kind of in the moment at the time. It just didn't really occur to us that we were all probably kind of having similar feelings."
"The fame thing had finally hit home in a big way," Emma added.
Later during the reunion, David Yates, who directed the final four films, said that when he was drafted into the franchise, one thing David Heyman, the series' producer, "and the studio spoke to me about was, 'Emma is not sure she wants to come back to do another Potter.'"
Elsewhere in the reunion special, Daniel revealed he once sent a flirtatious message to his co-star Helena Bonham Carter.
In the hit fantasy franchise, Radcliffe played Harry Potter, while Bonham Carter portrayed Bellatrix Lestrange.
During the special, Radcliffe said that he sent his co-star a note after wrapping up filming on the final Harry Potter film, The Deathly Hallows Part II, which was released in 2011.
Reading the message aloud, Radcliffe, who was 22 at the time, wrote to Helena, 45 at the time: "Dear HBC, it was a pleasure being your co-star and coaster in the fact I always ended up holding your coffee.
"I do love you and I wish I'd just been born ten years earlier so I might've been in with a chance."
