Original 'Harry Potter' Director Saw Photos of the New Hagrid 'Wearing the Exact Same Costume We Designed' and Thought: 'What's the Point? It's More of the Same'

Woody Allen Defends Russian Film Festival Appearance After Ukraine Calls It a 'Disgrace': Putin's War Is 'Appalling,' but You Can't Cut Off Artistic Conversation 19 hours ago Chris Columbus, who originally brought "Harry Potter" to the big screen as the director of 2001's "The Sorcerer's Stone" and 2002's "The Chamber of Secrets," recently appeared on the "The Rest Is Entertainment" podcast and questioned HBO's upcoming series reboot after he saw set photos of Nick Frost as Hagrid. Columbus cast Robbie Coltrane as the iconic Hogwarts groundskeeper. "So, I'm seeing these photographs... and [Nick Frost is] wearing the exact same costume that we designed for Hagrid. Part of me was like: What's the point?" Columbus said. "I thought the costumes and everything was going to be different, but it's more of the same. It's all going to be the same." "It's very flattering for me, because I'm like, that's exactly the Hagrid costume that we designed," Columbus added. "So, part of it is really exciting, so I'm excited to see what they're going to do with it. Part of it is sort of deja vu all over again." Columbus previously told Variety in an interview that he has no interest in being a part of HBO's "Harry Potter" series, explaining: "I've done it, you saw my version... There's nothing left for me to do in the world of Potter." He doubled down on this take during the podcast interview. "Jealous? No. It's time to move on," the director said. "I've always had issues with [the] idea of franchise. I feel like I've done it ... I'm really proud of those films, the first three that I was involved with, and I'm moving on." In a separate interview with The Standard, Columbus said he had recently run into Nick Frost and he got honest with him: " I said, 'This is very surreal for me -- you have to understand, Robbie Coltrane and I were so close.' So it's just weird, bizarre." Columbus has no hard feelings against HBO for rebooting "Harry Potter," and he's well aware by having a full season of television to adapt each book that the series will be able to include things he was forced to cut out in his movies. One exmaple is Peeves from the first book, a character that "never made it into the film -- we just didn't have time to develop the character." "The great thing about it is that with the first and second and third book, we wanted to do it all. We wanted to bring all of that onto the screen, and we didn't have the opportunity," he told Variety. "So for me, [the show] is an opportunity to bring all those scenes to life." Speaking to Collider earlier this year, Frost praised Coltrane's Hagrid performance and told fans not to expect a carbon copy. "I'm going to try and do something, not 'different,' I think you have to be respectful to the subject matter, but within that, there's scope for minutia," Frost explained. "I always read Hagrid as he's like a lovely, lost, violent, funny, warm child. I think the beauty of being able to do a book a season means I get to explore that a lot more, and I can't wait." HBO's "Harry Potter" is now in production and is set to debut sometime in 2027.