As it turns out, it was Culkin’s troubled home life after he got famous that influenced Columbus to change their approach when it came time to cast someone as Harry Potter. Talking to Demi Lovato’s documentary Child Star (via EW), Columbus explains how they made the mistake of not looking into the Culkin family before they launched Macaulay into mega-stardom.

Columbus said:

“Once we wrapped, I didn’t know what was going on [with Culkin… We didn’t know that much about the [Culkin] family at the beginning; as we were shooting, we learned a little more. The stories are hair-raising. I was casting a kid who truly had a troubled family life.”

After his success with Home Alone, Macaulay Culkin’s personal life had started to slowly unravel to the public, with reports of his substance abuse, and his messy relationship with his father and then-manager Kit Culkin. Word was going around about Kit being abusive and even threatening Macaulay while he was working.

There’s also the case of the parents fighting for custody and control over the $50 million fortune that Macaulay had amassed.

With Columbus predicting that the fame that the Potter franchise would bring would come with intense pressure, they made sure to vet the parents of the actors as well to make sure that they were going to provide a stable home for the kids off camera.

“Suddenly, I realized that parents had to be a big part of it. I can’t have [an actor] go home to a really sort of shaky environment for the sake of a film. It’s not worth it. It was as important to cast the parents as it was to cast the kids,” said Columbus

For now Culkin still makes small appearances on TV here and there, but his situation (and the situation of many other child actors) has influenced changes in policy that put in place safeguards for kids who become child stars and start earning the money for the family.

Hulu’s Child Star with Demi Lovato looks into this, and you can check out that documentary now.

In the meantime, casting for the new Harry is underway, and production is expected to start sometime next year.

With some fans branding Radcliffe as ‘ungrateful’ to Rowling despite her being the reason for his success, Radcliffe says that he doesn’t owe it to Rowling to not have his own opinion on the matter. “Jo, obviously Harry Potter would not have happened without her, so nothing in my life would have probably happened the way it is without that person,” Radcliffe tells The Atlantic, “But that doesn’t mean that you owe the things you truly believe to someone else for your entire life.”

For some time, fans of Rowling who share her stance have been calling for actors like Radcliffe to issue apologies for their stance against Rowling, and Rowling herself has commented that they were “celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights.” To which Radcliffe responded, “I will continue to support the rights of all LGBTQ people, and have no further comment than that.”

For now, Radcliffe has definitely moved on from the shadow of the boy wizard, and it can be argued that he’s had a flourishing career as compared to the rest of the main Potter trio. Rowling, on the other hand, seems to be stuck in her ‘Wizarding World’ and after the failure of Secrets of Dumbledore, everyone is wondering if its worth sticking around to see what she can bring into the franchise creatively.

For now, Radcliffe is rumored to be making an appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine, which is set to come out

Now Daniel Radcliffe himself has come out to produce the docu, David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived, covering Holmes story and how he managed to figuratively get back on his feet after the accident. Watch this:

The story essentially follows Holmes story as he grew from being a child gymnast to being the lead stunt double for Radcliffe in the Potter films. Holmes had actually spent several years working with Radcliffe in the movies, up until his accident working on the very last film.

Besides footage of Holmes’ life after the accident, the documentary also has some raw footage of Holmes performing the stunts on Potter. Though most of the footage comes from Goblet of Fire, we also Holmes had been doing stunts for Potter since way back in the very first movie, Sorcerer’s Stone.

Though a lot of fans like to look at the relationship between principal actors like Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, it’s easy to forget that there are people around the trio that also put their hard work on the films. It’s great that Holmes gets to have his story told in the spotlight.

David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived comes to Max on Nov. 15.

According to insider Daniel RPK (via @DeadpoolUpdate), the former boy wizard has been cast in a ‘secret role’ in the upcoming Deadpool 3. No details have been released about Radcliffe’s casting, but a lot of fans are almost sure that he’s going to play a variant of Wolverine.

Though Hugh Jackman is considered to be perfectly cast as the live-action Logan, comic book and cartoon fans have been very nitpicky with the characterization. Never mind that Logan has become a main character of the franchise, but he’s also supposed to be rather short and gruff compared to the hunky, 6-foot-tall Jackman.

Since Radcliffe is also known for his stature, fans have been fancasting him for years as the MCU’s new Wolverine. Sure his voice may not be as gruff as what’s expected for a character like Logan, but it’s very possible that he could get some kind of voice acting lessons to pull it off.

For now, production for Deadpool 3 is said to have come to a halt because of the WGA and SAG AFTRA strikes, but with enough enthusiasm from everyone involved, fans are hoping that Deadpool 3 manages to come out the other end of the strike with a solid film and a great introduction of the Merc with the Mouth to the MCU.

Deadpool 3 is set to release in theaters on May 3, 2024.

Talking to Access Hollywood (via Entertainment Weekly), Radcliffe explains, “I think it’s very much like they’re going for a new series… There would be somebody else playing Harry. So I think it would be very weird for me to show up.”

So far, the only thing we know about the series is that they are going to be more inclusive when it comes to casting, and that they are going to be more faithful to the books compared to the films, which had to cut some fat from some pretty lengthy novels.

Despite Radcliffe’s reluctance to appear on the show, he does sound very positive about being able to pass the torch to a new generation of kids. He continues, “I’m very excited to see what other people do with it. The comparison I’ve made is to a story like Sherlock Holmes. I think the Potter series of books was always gonna be bigger than one interpretation or one franchise, so it’ll be cool to see the torch get passed on.”

Personally, I prefer just expanding the lore to go to different places, but HBO is very welcome to try a reboot. I just feel sorry for the kids that have to commit to the job for more than 7 years. Will they have to redo the Harry Potter theme parks to match the reboots as well?

The Harry Potter series reboot is yet to have a release date.

Thanks to Variety, we have our first image of Brunson in Weird, and she’ll be playing the part of one Oprah Winfrey. Here’s her photo with Radcliffe as Weird Al:

Besides Brunson, Evan Rachel Wood has also been cast in the movie to play Madonna. Other actors in the film include Rainn Wilson who plays broadcaster Dr. Demento and Julianne Nicholson and Toby Huss will be playing Yankovic’s parents.

We don’t know how large of a role Oprah will have in the movie, but with her appearing in the film, it’s possible that we could be getting a whole bunch of other celebrities running into Weird Al. My guess is we could see artists that Yankovic has parodied before like Michael Jackson (Beat It/Eat It) or maybe Coolio (Gangster’s Paradise/Amish Paradise). Who knows, maybe the movie can go far enough into Yankovic’s career that we can meet celebs like Lady Gaga(Poker Face/Polka Face) or Pharrell Williams (Happy/Tacky).

Weird Al is no doubt one of the most unique icons we have in pop culture, and it feels like a biopic about him is expected to be just as bonkers. With Yankovic best known for parodying music, I think we can expect his biopic to parody other musical biopics like Bohemian Rhapsody or Rocketman.

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story comes to Roku sometime this fall.

The AV Club reports that Radcliffe has been cast to play “Weird Al” Yankovic in what is referred to as a ‘pseudo-biopic’ of the parody musician’s life. Yankovic actually wrote the script of the film will Eric Appel, and he had this to say about casting the Harry Potter alum to play him:

“When my last movie UHF came out in 1989, I made a solemn vow to my fans that I would release a major motion picture every 33 years, like clockwork. I’m very happy to say we’re on schedule… absolutely thrilled that Daniel Radcliffe will be portraying me in the film. I have no doubt whatsoever that this is the role future generations will remember him for.”

Yanovic’s writing partner Appel, was actually the same person behind the faux trailer Weird: The Al Yankovic Story which teases a dramatic biopic of Weird Al a la Walk Hard. Watch this:

We don’t know how fictional this movie can get, but I can imagine it’s a lot closer to Rocketman than Bohemian Rhapsody. Weird Al is such a unique figure in pop-culture, and I’m interested to see how this film plays out, no matter how deviated it gets from the truth.

No release date has been set for Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, but you can catch on the Roku Channel via Funny or Die and Tango.

As revealed in the new Harry Potter 20^th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts special on HBO Max, Watson almost quit the role of Hermione Granger in 2007. Watson tells her co-stars:

“I did find a diary entry that was kind of like… I could see that at times I was lonely… The fame thing had finally hit home in a big way.[Order of the Phoenix] was when things started getting spicy for all of us. 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.'”

At this point, Watson had been playing the part of Hermione since she was 10 years old, and seeing as how she’s not doing much acting now, Watson was probably looking for something outside of Potter for a good long while. Even Grint recalls a moment where it was starting to feel mentally taxing to play his character, and it started to feel ‘weird’ when he heard his actual name.

In the end, everything turned out for the better, Watson said, “The fans genuinely wanted me to succeed and all genuinely have each other’s backs… How great is that?” Plus, It’s probably thanks to the success of Potter that Watson was able to pursue jobs that she was actually passionate for, even becoming the Goodwill Ambassador for Women for the UN back in 2014.

Though the special wasn’t able to bring every cast member back, it was a pretty heartfelt look back at the world of Potter and how it evolved during its run from Sorcerer’s Stone to Deathly Hallows. Catch Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts no streaming on HBO Max.

Check out the full Harry Potter 20th anniversary down here:

While I was initially expecting returning actors to just be on a screen in the comfort of their homes, the reunion was able to bring everyone back together in person. Of course, there were some actors that weren’t able to make their return, but who knew that Ralph Fiennes, Gary Oldman, or Helena Bonham Carter would be open to coming back for a franchise that’s essentially the Millenials’ Hunger Games.

Besides the returning actors, the reunion is also bringing back directors Chris Colombus, Alfonso Cuaron, Mike Newell, and David Yates. Hopefully there are some other surprises in store; personally, I think some kind of teaser for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore could be dropped at the same time, maybe even an appearance from an FB actor like Jude Law or Eddie Redmayne.

Though Fantastic Beasts wasn’t able to gather the same amount of excitement as the Potter movies, the original films are still solid; and it will be a few decades before WB decides to pull a Force Awakens and have actors like Radcliffe and Watson hand over the baton to a new generation of wizards (and hopefully, Cursed Child will be de-canonized fan fiction).

Catch Harry Potter 20^th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts when it airs on HBO Max this New Year’s Day.

Check out the Harry Potter poster down here: 

A moment 20 years in the making. Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: #ReturnToHogwarts is streaming on @HBOMax New Year’s Day. pic.twitter.com/xfp95HPZqR

— Wizarding World (@wizardingworld) December 15, 2021

Besides the main trio and some longtime cast members like Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort), Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange), and Gary Oldman (Sirius Black) coming back, the special is also going to feature the filmmakers behind the Potter films Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuaron, Mike Newell, and David Yates.

With the Fantastic Beasts films at an all-time low after the release of Crimes of Grindelwald, the Potter films continue to be a solid franchise that still manages to captivate new generations of audience members. We don’t know how long the Wizarding World will manage to hold interest throughout the years, but if Star Wars can manage to be as relevant today as it was 50 years ago, then I’m sure some adults in 2050 will still be talking about getting their letters to Hogwarts and buying their wands in Diagon Alley.

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson join other esteemed cast members across all eight Harry Potter films as they travel back to Hogwarts for the first time to celebrate the anniversary of the franchise’s first film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, which premiered 20 years ago this year. The retrospective special Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts will tell an enchanting making-of story through all-new in-depth interviews and cast conversations, inviting fans on a magical first-person journey through one of the most beloved film franchises of all time.

Catch Harry Potter 20^th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts when it streams on HBO on Jan. 01, 2022.

Check them out:

Like they never left. Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: #ReturnToHogwarts premieres New Year's Day on HBO Max. pic.twitter.com/6MBjWTjJbc

— HBO Max (@hbomax) December 9, 2021

Besides the main trio, the special is also set to have appearances from actors like Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, and Gary Oldman. Even actors who played Harry’s fellow students like Tom Felton, Kames and Oliver Phelps, Bonnie Wright, and Matthew Lewis will be making an appearance.

Though the Fantastic Beasts films haven’t managed to capture the same kind of magic that the Potter movies did, they original story is still one to be admired by several generations to come—regardless of what people think of author J.K. Rowling.

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson join other esteemed cast members across all eight Harry Potter films as they travel back to Hogwarts for the first time to celebrate the anniversary of the franchise’s first film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, which premiered 20 years ago this year. The retrospective special Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts will tell an enchanting making-of story through all-new in-depth interviews and cast conversations, inviting fans on a magical first-person journey through one of the most beloved film franchises of all time.

Harry Potter 20^th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts premieres on HBO Max on Jan. 1, 2022.

Watch the Harry Potter announcement down here: 

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson join filmmaker Chris Columbus and other esteemed cast members across all eight Harry Potter films as they travel back to Hogwarts for the first time to celebrate the anniversary of the franchise’s first film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, which premiered 20 years ago today. The retrospective special Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts will tell an enchanting making-of story through all-new in-depth interviews and cast conversations, inviting fans on a magical first-person journey through one of the most beloved film franchises of all time.

Other cast members confirmed for a return are Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange), Gary Oldman (Sirius Black), and Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort). Of course, the reunion is also bringing back cast members who played Harry’s fellow students like Bonnie Wright (Ginny), Matthew Lewis (Neville), Tom Felton (Malfoy), Oliver and James Phelps (Fred and George), and Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood).

One person who won’t be appearing in the reunion is Potter creator J.K. Rowling, who is still being followed by a wave of internet hate because of some anti-trans sentiments. We don’t know if she will eventually be able to make peace with that community, but as it stands, it seems that fans’ love for Potter has opted for the mentality of separating the art from the artist.

harry Potter 20^th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts comes to HBO Max on Jan. 01, 2022.