JK Rowling is celebrating her 57th birthday, with the author still enjoying the immense success of the Harry Potter books and films, despite being snubbed in the recent reunion.
It was the movies that introduced the story to a worldwide audience, catapulting its child stars into a level of stardom few actors will ever achieve.
Leading the cast was Daniel Radcliffe as the titular character. Audiences watched him grow up on screen over the course of 10 years and eight films, from the age of 11 to 21.
The last movie in the franchise, Deathly Hallows II, released back in 2011, but Daniel has been keeping busy since.
He has been starring in countless movies, from blockbuster hits to strange little indie cult-classics, even being unrecognisable in one of his upcoming releases.
Throughout it all, he has been asked about a potential return to the franchise that made him a star, but his recent response surprised diehard fans.
What has Daniel Radcliffe been doing since Harry Potter?
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Daniel Radcliffe wasted no time in trying to reinvest his Hollywood image after Harry Potter, immediately diving into the horror ghost story The Woman in Black, playing the role of Arthur Kipps.
From here, his film choices continued to become more and more intriguing, as he followed his horror-stint up with Kill Your Darlings, a romance drama set in 1944 that saw him co-star with Dane DeHaan.
Then came Horns, the first of many movies that perplexed audiences with its peculiar plot, following a man wake up with horns on his head after the mysterious death of his girlfriend.
He later appeared in the misfire Victor Frankenstein, before playing a farting corpse in Swiss Army Man alongside Paul Dano.
Directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the pair later went on to direct Everything Everywhere All At Once which proved to be a hit in cinemas earlier this year.
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Daniel then returned to the world of blockbusters, starring as the antagonist in Now You See Me 2, the absurdist action franchise about magicians breaking into banks.
He then appeared in a couple of Amazon Prime movies – Guns Akimbo, a film that see’s guns attached to Daniel’s hands as he is forced into an online gladiator battle, and Escape from Pretoria, an intense real-life prison break drama.
He also recently starred in The Lost City alongside Channing Tatum and Sandra Bullock.
Radcliffe just wrapped filming Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, where he plays the titular character and beloved parody musician.
Does Daniel Radcliffe want to return to Harry Potter?
(Image: Getty Images for SXSW)
Hollywood loves bringing back beloved franchises, with Top Gun, Ghostbusters, Creed, Blade Runner, Doctor Sleep, The Matrix, Halloween, Bill & Ted, Star Wars and Mad Max being just a few recent examples – all to mixed results.
The Harry Potter prequel films, Fantastic Beasts, have seen only diminishing returns at the box office, so now might be the perfect time for the original franchise to make a comeback.
If Daniel has anything to say about it, that won’t be happening, at least no time soon.
In an interview with the New York Times earlier this year, he didn’t rule out a return, but thinks the franchise needs a long pause first.
Referencing the recent reunion on HBO Max, he explained: “This isn’t the answer that anybody’s going to want, but I think I was so able to go back and enjoy it because it’s not a part of my day-to-day life anymore.
“I’m getting to a point where I feel like I made it out of Potter okay and I’m really happy with where I am now, and to go back would be such a massive change to my life.
“I’m never going to say never, but the Star Wars guys had like 30, 40 years before they went back. For me, it’s only been 10. It’s not something I’m really interested in doing right now.”
It might be a little early to start booking your tickets 40 years in advance, but it’s a small tread of hope for fans to cling on to over the next half-century.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
