Daniel Radcliffe Confirms Complex Feelings On HBO’s Harry Potter Series After Talks With Emma Watson & Rupert Grint

The people whose feelings on the new Harry Potter TV show fans are likely the most eager to hear about have been talking with each other as the project moves ahead.

HBO Max’s Harry Potter TV series, a reboot of the movie franchise and J.K. Rowling’s seminal fantasy book series, is expected sometime in 2027. Though the format will allow the books to be adapted much more faithfully, in much greater detail, the movies are still beloved. While fans have complicated feelings about the reboot, everyone has been asking the old cast what they think.

In a new interview with PEOPLE, Daniel Radcliffe, who stars in the brand-new NBC comedy The Fall & Rise of Reggie Dinkins, says he and Rupert Grint and Emma Watson have been in touch to talk about “how surreal [it is] to watch people starting off on that journey, all those years later.” While they haven’t had “a ton of communication about the show specifically,” they agree on this.

“It’s one of those where I think we all just know how the others feel, because we’re also feeling it,” said Radcliffe. “You just see the pictures of these kids, and you just want to grab them and hug them. That’s the impulse that I think that we, mainly, all have.” Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson’s iconic roles of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger are now being played by Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout, and Arabella Stanton, respectively.

Radcliffe also shared how being an adult looking back on Harry Potter makes him see what the new actors have taken on very differently. He went on to say: “When you’re 11, and you’re doing something, you’re like, ‘Of course I’m old enough to do this — I’m the oldest I’ve ever been.’ But now when I meet 11-year-olds, I am like, ‘Whoa, that seems nuts.’ It puts into perspective.“

“Honestly, it makes me admire – and I do tell them this, but my parents — more than I was capable of doing at the time. Just going like, ‘Wow, you got me through something crazy, and you did it with a huge amount of humor,’ yeah, it’s a big task.” Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson all essentially grew up on the Harry Potter set, being cast as children and sticking with the franchise over the next 10 years.

HBO seems to be hoping to repeat this feat, with plans to adapt one book per season of the show. In addition to the roster of young stars, the reboot’s veteran cast includes John Lithgow, Janet McTeer, Paapa Essiedu, Nick Frost, Warwick Davis, and many more. Francisca Gardiner, known for Succession, Killing Eve, and His Dark Materials, is attached as the showrunner.

The Harry Potter and spinoff Fantastic Beasts movies have grossed $9.5 billion to date, and the IP remains a cultural powerhouse despite ongoing controversy surrounding the creator. The Golden Trio, especially Watson and Radcliffe, has reportedly had a strained relationship with J.K. Rowling since 2020 due to them opposing the author’s anti-trans views.

While its popularity has endured, Harry Potter‘s status in the zeitgeist has certainly changed since these actors wrapped production on the last movie. As the fanbase grapples with this, the people who lived and breathed Harry Potter for such a long time understandably have a different perspective on all of it as a new generation sets out to bring these roles to life once again.