A 20-year Harry Potter anniversary special is headed to HBO Max to ring in 2022, and its trailer is bringing fans to tears.
HBO Max shared a trailer for Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts, which will air on Jan. 1, 2022, to numerous social media channels Monday. Fans immediately flooded the comment sections of each fresh post, sharing their excitement and diving into a debating about author J.K. Rowling’s absence from the event.
The majority of reactions see fans “sobbing” tears of nostalgic joy at the sight of so many beloved actors returning to the world that numerous people still hold close to their hearts. An entire generation of kids grew up on Harry Potter, and could hardly contain themselves at the thought of a reunion special.
“I burst into tears from the first 3 seconds,” one fan wrote, noting that they had to rewatch the trailer a second time “because I couldn’t see anything with my teary eyes.”
“You guys made this Harry Potter fan so happy,” another fan wrote. Numerous people shared reaction gifs of people celebrating and crying, as well as some of their favorite moments and characters from the Harry Potter films.
Some fans, however, were too distracted by J.K. Rowling’s absence to get emotional over the trailer. They complained that “the creator of this world” was not included, blaming “wokeism” for her increasingly rare inclusion in events of this sort. Rowling has become synonymous with trans-exclusionary radical feminism in recent years, thanks to numerous tweets and statements in which she expressed her opinion that accepting transgender people erases the “lived reality of women globally.”
These controversial statements have created a complicated relationship between Harry Potter fans and the content they grew up loving. People absolutely adore Harry Potter, but many hate the idea of supporting someone who, with the powerful platform she has been granted, promotes anti-trans ideals.
Others feel that Rowling should be able to vocally believe whatever she wants, and many who agree with her stance on feminism and transgender women lashed out at Return to Hogwarts for excluding her.
Despite the mild backlash, it seems the vast majority of fans couldn’t be more excited to watch Return to Hogwarts when it airs on HBO Max.
