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Harry Potter, the reunion: that’s why JK Rowling didn’t attend

She is the mother of the wizard, she created the literary saga, she wrote the theatrical sequel and the film prequels and yet JK Rowling is the great absentee of the TV reunion (on Sky and NOW) Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts. The almost two-hour appointment brings the cast, directors and producer back to the stage to celebrate the first two decades since its release in the hall of The philosopher’s Stone.
The record-breaking fantasy franchise, published in Italy by Salani and available in audiobook for Audible with the voice of Francesco Pannofino, now dominates unified networks: not only Sky dedicates a channel to it with all eight films until November 16, but Italy 1 starts on January 6 with the usual party marathon which proposes a different chapter every week. Meanwhile, Amazon Prime Video makes all the films available in its library.
It is only part of the celebrations of #20YearsOfMovieMagic, a series of initiatives that celebrate Harry Potter and the socio-cultural impact of its history. Warner Bros, has launched home video versions for collectors, with boxes full of special content (the most coveted is in the shape of a train, the Hogwarts Express). Lego has started the collection of sets dedicated to film settings (the second one has just been released, The Chamber of Secrets) and the most iconic brands, from Mattel to Panini, are dedicating collections inspired by the franchise.
Why, then, in the midst of this glorious birthday (which also brought back The philosopher’s Stone in theaters for a week all over the world and which in Italy has touched the 2 million at the box office), the writer is put in the background?
JK Rowling is present in the special in spirit or rather through pieces of an interview from 2019. It is not physically in the studios where the films are shot, just outside London, where for the event we see the setting up of tables set in the Great Hall of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a dance floor with professional dancers and orchestra and many lounges for informal chat with the protagonists.
In the initial part of the reunion you can see archive images, including those of firmcopies and red carpets, which involve the writer but apart from a few haggard statements of her there is no longer any trace. We would have expected everyone to rave about his talent and genius, but nothing, almost as if he wanted to pass his presence on the sly.
Let’s be clear: to the magazine Entertainment Weekly it has been confirmed that the invitation for your attendance was actually delivered to you but his team (who refused to make an official comment) found past statements sufficient. An anonymous source was quick to add that the repeated controversy over the writer’s alleged transphobia had no weight in the decision.
The potterheads (the wizard fans) couldn’t help but notice that the writer’s association with the franchise is increasingly discreet. Despite having conceived the Wizarding World, in the trailer for the third prequel film, Fantastic Beasts: Dumbledore’s Secrets (in the room from 13 April) his name appears in the titles of the copy and in lowercase format, while in the previous ones it was the first name to appear, in large letters. WarnerMedia, however, has released a statement stating that the artistic collaboration is proceeding “more fruitfully than ever.”
Meanwhile, the rumors are multiplying: it is not known if Rowling will promote the film (he had previously shared the material on Twitter and on his site immediately, but not this time) and to what extent he will continue to have the final say on the franchise. In the meantime, the rumor of a TV series about the boy wizard becomes more and more insistent and the Potter-mania continues to rage without inflections. Except maybe the boxoffice results for that Fantastic Beasts, slightly lower than those of the mother saga, while remaining respectable: the first of the five films in the pipeline has grossed over 811 million worldwide, but the second with 651 has totaled the lowest result of the whole saga (the last chapter of the original franchise, Deathly Hallows Part 2 scored more than double).
Apart from controversy, in short, Mama Rowling has no intention of putting down her wand.

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