Gary Oldman makes bizarre comment about Harry Potter new series despite backlash
Gary Oldman is throwing his hat into the mix about how he thinks the new TV series about the Wizarding World will perform after he played Sirius Black in four Harry Potter movies for Warner Bros.
If you're a Brit actor from the 90s and beyond, there's a good chance you've been in the Harry Potter franchise in some form or another, but actor Oldman wasn't just anyone in the flicks, he played a huge role in developing Harry's (Daniel Radcliffe) life.
The star, who has been in films such as The Dark Knight, The Fifth Element and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, played the role of Sirius Black, Harry's criminal (allegedly) uncle-ish, whose redemption arc ended in tears galore during the fifth instalment.
Anyway, in light of HBO revamping the Harry Potter franchise and turning it into a TV show, Oldman has come out to make quite the controversial claim.
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Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, he revealed he believes the new Wizarding World TV series, which is due to come out in December this year, will be better than the franchise he was part of.
But before you get your hackled up, he said this is only the case because the TV show allegedly uses a lot more of the source material taken from JK Rowling's book series.
“We had to cut a lot [for the ‘Harry Potter’ movies], and still we could only get the films down to, like, three hours,” Oldman said, and alleged that 'a lot of character detail was sacrificed' because of this.
He added: “I believe [the HBO series is] gonna do it pretty much word-for-word, which I think, as a viewer, would be more satisfying.”
When it comes to his own character, he also had some thoughts, revealing that Black should have been more prominent in the movies.
Spoiler...
Oldman said to IndieWire in 2024: “He wasn’t in it enough. He turned up and then he went through the veil."
However, he went on to praise the flicks, and said he is 'grateful' for them 'because it is such a phenomenon, the like of which I don’t think you’re ever gonna see again.'
“When you think of that initial cast, someone in the story who doesn’t get a lot of credit anymore is [director] Chris Columbus, who set the world up and cast it,” he said. “We were extraordinarily lucky to have those people come back again, and again, and again, and literally grow into those roles.”
Even though he praised the films and cast, he once told the Happy Sad Confused podcast that his acting in the films was ‘mediocre’.
He said: “I think my work is mediocre in it.”
Oldman continued: “No, I do. Maybe if I had read the books like Alan [Rickman], if I had got ahead of the curve, if I had known what’s coming, I honestly think I would have played it differently.”
He added: “It’s like anything, if I sat and watched myself in something and said, ‘My god, I’m amazing,’ that would be a very sad day, because you want to make the next thing better.”
Oldman's comments come off the back of backlash surrounding the TV show, from the casting choices, to the retelling of the story.
The HBO series is set to premiere on HBO and HBO Max on Christmas day, so you can watch for yourself and see if it's what you were expecting.
Topics: Harry Potter, JK Rowling, Film and TV, HBO
Britt Jones