Emma Watson Harry Potter News

In a recent interview with Financial Times, Watson went into detail about why she wasn’t very happy working as an actress and felt the best thing for her was to take a step back from acting and recharge. Watson's last acting credit is 2019's Little Women.

I think I felt a bit caged, Watson said. The thing I found really hard was that I had to go out and sell something that I really didn’t have very much control over. To stand in front of a film and have every journalist be able to say, ‘How does this align with your viewpoint?’ It was very difficult to have to be the face and the spokesperson for things where I didn’t get to be involved in the process.

As the star of a movie, Watson felt every critique was directed towards her, or she was held responsible for things she had no control over, something she began to find really frustrating.

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Watson rose to fame in 2001 at the age of 11 when she starred as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

She continued to play the role until 2011 when the eighth and final film in the franchise was released when she was 21. Since then, she starred in movies like The Bling Ring, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Beauty and the Beast and Little Women.

I started to realize that I only wanted to stand in front of things where if someone was going to give me flak about it, I could say, in a way that didn’t make me hate myself, ‘Yes, I screwed up, it was my decision, I should have done better, ’ Watson explained.

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While Little Women was released in 2019, filming took place throughout 2018, and although Watson hasn't acted in five years, she said she absolutely would love to return to acting.

I’m happy to sit and wait for the next right thing. I love what I do, she said. It’s finding a way to do it where I don’t have to fracture myself into different faces and people. And I just don’t want to switch into robot mode anymore. Does that make sense?

Watson got her start at 11 years old starring alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. (DMIPhoto/FilmMagic)

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The actress has been open in the past about how fame has affected her, especially when she was younger and the Harry Potter franchise was at its peak of popularity. In its opening weekend, the first movie made $90 million, going on to make a total of $965 million at the worldwide box office.

Its popularity continued to rise as more people discovered the book series and movies, with the final film in the franchise making over $1.3 billion at the global box office. This level of fame was not something Watson was always comfortable with, leading her to almost drop out of the role after filming the fourth installment.

[Order of the Phoenix] was when things started getting spicy for all of us, Watson told co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint in the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts reunion special in 2022. I think I was scared. I don't know if you ever felt like it got to a tipping point where you were like, ‘This is kind of forever now.’

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Felton gave Watson a lot of credit for the way she handled the fame as a young girl. (Photo by Andy Butterton - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)

Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the films, gave Watson a lot of credit in the documentary special for the way she handled the immense pressure she was under.

People definitely forget what she took on and how gracefully she did it, Felton said. Dan and Rupert, they had each other. I had my cronies, whereas Emma was not only younger, she was by herself.The Harry Potter franchise could have looked very differently if Emma Watson had ducked out about halfway through, as she considered doing.

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The actress, along with several of her co-stars, skyrocketed to fame at a young age in 2001 when they appeared in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

While Watson and her co-stars have parlayed their early stardom into successful careers in Hollywood, it wasn't an easy go for them.

Watson, now 31, is set to appear in HBO Max's upcoming Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts special, which will see her and others involved with the franchise recall their time working together.

Emma Watson Explains Why She Wanted To Quit Harry Potter

Emma Watson discusses considering leaving the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise in the upcoming HBO Max special ‘Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts.’ (Photo by Paul Bruinooge/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

In the reunion special, director David Yates mentioned that Watson considered leaving the franchise shortly after he agreed to direct Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth film out of eight.

I think I was scared, Watson says in the special, recalling an old diary entry in which she mentioned feeling lonely, per People magazine. I don't know if you ever felt like it got to a tipping point where you were like, 'This is kind of forever now.'

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He also noted that Watson didn't exactly have anyone to lean on while filming the movies, as she was not only younger but she was by herself.

Daniel Radcliffe, who starred as the titular boy wizard, added: We never talked about it on the film because we were all just kids.

As a 14-year-old boy, I was never going to turn around to another 14-year-old and be like, 'Hey, how are you doing? Is everything okay?' he explained.

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Watson wasn't the only star to consider leaving the iconic franchise, however, as Rupert Grint also thought about bowing out at several points.

I had moments like that kind of all the way through, he admitted. I also had similar feelings to Emma kind of contemplating what life would be like if I called it a day, but we never really spoke about it. I guess we were just kind of going through it at our own pace. We were kind of in the moment at the time. It just didn't really occur to us that we were all having similar feelings.