James and Oliver Phelps, Warwick Davis: “Potter” Reboot Shouldn’t Happen
Last month, Daniel Radcliffe told IGN, “I know I’m not the last Harry Potter I’m gonna see in my lifetime.” Now, three of his costars are going on the record with their hopes that he is.
Digital Spy was able to sit down with James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, and Warwick Davis during their recent visit to Warner Bros. Studio Tour London’s new Gringotts Wizarding Bank set, scheduled to open to the public April 6. With television series being churned out in bulk these days by providers such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, the actors were asked their thoughts on the possibility of a television reboot of the beloved films.
Oliver Phelps made his disdain for the idea clear.
I think because it’s so iconic that it’s one of those things you don’t try and replicate something that means so much to so many people. I think that [would] probably be a bad idea. And there’s so much other stuff sort of going on in the wizarding world, with ‘Fantastic Beasts’, with ‘The Cursed Child’. The films are very much in their own place.
Many fans have expressed interest over the years in a Harry Potter television series, if only for the opportunity to include elements of the novels they feel weren’t done justice – or were omitted – in the films. Others are with the Phelps twins in the “leave it be” camp, positing that if a series ever surfaced, it should focus on previously unexplored areas of the wizarding world. In Radcliffe’s IGN interview, for instance, he joined just about every Potter fan ever in expressing interest in a Marauders-era spinoff.
But the actor who brought the Boy Who Lived to life is also taking a pragmatic stance on the subject of remakes, stating that while the films “have sort of a sacred varnish on them” now, “that will be worn away at some point.”
Davis, meanwhile, was asked the same question by Digital Spy, agreeing with the Phelps brothers.
I like the idea that we’ve got such wonderful films [that] evolved over an 11-year filmmaking process here at Leavesden, with each of us sort of pushing the envelope as we did with the next films. The visual effects were developing technologies to keep up with the stories and what wanted to be achieved, and the makeup department was also developing new techniques, new ways of doing things. I think we look back now, and we’ve got these wonderful films. I think it would be, in a way, a shame to mess with something that is so beloved. That quest for perfection is very important, and it’s one thing that, coming here to the Studio Tour, you appreciate that detail, how much attention was given to everything.
You can view Digital Spy’s video interview with the trio of actors here.
Would you like to see a Harry Potter television remake in the future? Is there another aspect of the wizarding world you’d rather see developed into a series? Let us know in the comments!
