That ‘Harry Potter’ Reunion Contained A Wonderful Blunder That Fans Noticed Immediately
The Harry Potter reunion aired over the weekend, a celebration of a film franchise that has given so much to so many.
The special, which saw key cast and crew members return (with notable absences: there was no J.K. Rowling, for instance) pored back over the mythos of one of the most popular speculative fiction series in history, giving new takeaways and delighting fans.
This isn’t to say that the reunion was a perfect object. Far from it, in fact — the aired special contained of the most amusing blunders possible, mixing up one of its key stars with someone who shares their first name.
See, at one point in the special, an interview with Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) cuts away to a photograph of the actress as a young woman. Only there was one problem: it wasn’t a photo of Watson. Instead, it was a photo of fellow actress and Emma name-haver Emma Roberts. Fans found the photo used on Emma Roberts’ Instagram page, and quickly took to Twitter to share their confusion.
GUYS HELP ME THATS LITERALLY EMMA ROBERTS NOT EMMA WATSON ☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️ #ReturnToHogwarts #HarryPotter20thAnniversary pic.twitter.com/bLbXcCUpnh
— ????? (@vee_delmonico99) January 1, 2022
For their part, the producers of the reunion were quick to rectify the problem.
“Well spotted Harry Potter fans!” they said, shortly after the goof was made public. “You brought an editing mistake of a mislabeled photograph to our attention. New version is up now.”
Truly the streaming age is a strange place — fans can notice errors, producers can respond, and a new version of the film can be up before anybody even blinks an eye.
As reported by The LA Times, that wasn’t the only mistake, either. The actors who play Fred and George Weasley, identical twins Oliver Phelps and James Phelps, had their names mixed-up when they appeared onscreen. “I guess after all those pranks over the years somebody decided to get their revenge,” Oliver wrote on Instagram. “It was fantastic to be part of the HP reunion. Hope you all enjoyed it.”
What an age we live in.