In an interview with the New York Times, Daniel Radcliffe said he’s not interested “right now” in returning as Harry Potter. He, however, implied that he may do so in the future. “I’m never going to say never. 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,” Radcliffe said.
It did sound disappointing at first to Harry Potter fans with Radcliffe saying he did not want to return as ‘The Boy Who Lived’. But even if he was interested, is there any Harry Potter story or script available?
In the above interview, he was asked if he would return in the film adaptation of the play ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’. A few months ago, Christopher Columbus, who had directed the first two Harry Potter films, said he was interested in returning to helm a movie adaptation of the play. Since then, there have been speculations on if and when the play would be adapted as a movie.
Harry Potter’s character is aged 38 and a father during the events of Cursed Child. Daniel Radcliffe is aged 32. If the makers wanted to cast an actor who looked the age of the character, Daniel Radcliffe has still some years left before he could make a return, He could easily play the role a decade from now. Based on his comments, he is not interested ‘right now’ but surely something he’d consider a decade from now. Also, the Harry Potter play is still being actively enacted across various cities. A commercial movie available to watch across the world would diminish potential revenues from the play.
Apart from the Cursed Child, there is no book or screenplay written by J. K. Rowling, author and creator of Harry Potter, that as of now exists as per public knowledge on which a movie could be adapted. The Fantastic Beasts franchise, which is a prequel to the Harry Potter book, is set years before Harry Potter was born. So, realistically speaking, unless Rowling introduces some element of time travel, Harry Potter cannot be a part of these movies.
So, there are hardly any avenues for Radcliffe to return as Harry Potter anyways. A decade from now, maybe when Rowling may have revealed new material either in the form of a book or a movie screenplay or something else, we may need him. But as of now, Daniel Radcliffe’s interest is moot.