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'Harry Potter' Reunion Special Dragged After Using Childhood Photo Of The Wrong Famous Emma

'Harry Potter' Reunion Special Dragged After Using Childhood Photo Of The Wrong Famous Emma
Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images
Peter Karleby
By Peter KarlebyJan 04, 2022
Peter Karleby
Peter Karleby is a writer, content producer and performer originally from Michigan. His writing has also appeared on YourTango, Delish and Medium, and he has produced content for NBC, The New York Times and The CW, among others. When not working, he can be found tripping over his own feet on a hiking trail while singing Madonna songs to ward off lurking bears.
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HBO Max's much-anticipated Harry Potter reunion special at last dropped over the holiday weekend, and fans of the iconic series of books and films have been awash in nostalgia ever since.

But when it comes to the character of Hermione Granger, played by actress Emma Watson, some of that nostalgia was inadvertently misplaced.

If you watched Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts and found yourself staring at the TV wondering if you'd blacked out during the part of the Harry Potter series where Emma Roberts was involved, not to worry, you're not losing your marbles.

HBO Max just used a photo of the wrong Emma, popping in a childhood photo of Roberts instead of Watson.

Oops.

The reunion is an exciting new chapter to the Harry Potter catalog for its legion of fans, especially as it reunited core stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson for the first time since the final film in the series premiered in 2011.

The reunion was full of cute throwbacks as well, like a segment in which each of the films' stars recount their beginning with the celebrated children's stories, accompanied by photos of them as children. As Watson recounted her childhood affinity for the character she would go on to play, Hermione, a photo of an adorable little girl in Minnie Mouse ears came onscreen.

Aww!

Eagle-eyed viewers recognized the photo immediately—not from Watson's life but rather from a 2012 Instagram post by fellow actress Emma Roberts who, while iconic in her own right, has never appeared in anything even tangentially related to the Harry Potter series.

The special's producers quickly owned up to the error and got right to work on uploading a new version to HBO Max, as they told Entertainment Weekly on Sunday in a message to fans which read:

“Well spotted Harry Potter fans!"
"You brought an editing mistake of a mislabeled photograph to our attention."
"New version up shortly.”

But of course, that did not quell fans' reactions to the gaffe on social media, which were plentiful.



As several viewers also pointed out, the editing team got Oliver and James Phelps—the twin brothers who played Fred and George Weasley—mixed up as well.

And you think you mess up at your job a lot!

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