UPDATE—January 5, 2022: The producers of the special and one of the Emmas (Watson) have responded to the mix-up! Just a day after the special went up and the mistake went viral, the team behind Return to Hogwarts told EW in a statement, “Well spotted, Harry Potter fans! You brought an editing mistake of a mislabeled photograph to our attention. New version up shortly.”
On January 5, Hermione herself weighed in, posting the mouse-ears pic to her own ’gram and writing, “I was NOT this cute, @emmaroberts 😂#emmasistersforever.”
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ORIGINAL STORY—January 2, 2022: On January 1, HBO Max dropped the highly anticipated Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts special. It was a joyful, tender reunion featuring much of the series cast and a whole lot of their childhood memories…and one belonging to someone else.
That's right, the Harry Potter special included new interviews as well as found footage and photos of the O.G. cast. However, as one eagle-eyed fan pointed out on Twitter, one package dedicated to Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the magical series, included a photo of a completely different actor named Emma.
While Watson described her fond family memories about the Harry Potter books ahead of being cast, a childhood photo of Watson wearing Minnie Mouse ears appeared on the screen. Only it wasn't a photo of Watson at all—it was of American Horror Story actor Emma Roberts. I mean, at least they've both played witches!
“GUYS HELP ME THATS LITERALLY EMMA ROBERTS NOT EMMA WATSON,” user @vee_delmonico99 tweeted on January 1, alongside a screen grab of the special as well as a throwback Instagram post from Roberts.
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To confirm, here is the Instagram in question:
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To be fair, I would easily believe you if you told me this was Emma Watson. Also, this photo was posted by Roberts in February 2012, so props to this fan for remembering it. Just for fun, here's a cute childhood pic of Watson:
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As for memories that do belong to Watson, the actor revealed during the special that she “fell in love” with her costar Tom Felton while shooting the movies. “I walked into the room where we were having tutoring,” she recalled, per ET Canada. “The assignment that had been given was to draw what you thought God looked like, and Tom had drawn a girl with a backward cap on a skateboard. And I just don’t know how to say it—I just fell in love with him."
She continued, “I used to come in every day and look for his number on the call sheet it was number seven, and if his name was on the call sheet, it was an extra exciting day,” she said. “He was three years above me and so for him, he was like, ‘You’re like my little sister.’”
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While the pair insist they never dated, Felton said he knew about Watson's crush on him. “I think I was in the hair and makeup chair and someone said something along the lines of, ‘Yeah, she had a crush on you,'” Felton said. “I became very protective over her. Yeah, I’ve always had a soft spot for her and that continues to this day. There’s always been something that’s like, I don’t know, a kinship.”
The Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts special is available to stream now on HBO Max.
