Transcript for MuggleCast Episode #768, “Chamber of Secrets” TV Casting News and and Your “Philosopher’s Stone” Thoughts
Cold Open
Laura: The gross thing is that you could probably crack one of those open right now, and it would taste exactly the same as one that you buy at the store today.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: That’s what I’m saying.
Barry: That’s called consistency.
Andrew: All right…
[Laura laughs]
Micah: It’s called preservatives.
Show Intro
[Show music plays]
Andrew Sims: Welcome to MuggleCast, your weekly ride into the world of Harry Potter. I’m Andrew.
Micah Tannenbaum: I’m Micah.
Laura Tee: I’m Laura.
Andrew: And we’re your Harry Potter friends, gathering to talk about the books and movies, and this week, the TV show coming to HBO Max in the fall. So follow us in your favorite podcast app for new episodes every Wednesday. This week, like I just said, don’t put the remote down just yet, because we’re diving into all of your feedback on the Philosopher’s Stone TV trailer, and discussing some major Chamber of Secrets casting news. And joining us for this week’s episode is friend of the pod, Harry Potter podcaster himself, Barry! Welcome back to MuggleCast.
Barry Watson: It’s a pleasure to be back. Thank you for having me.
Andrew: Pleasure to have you. You host the Retold podcast, right? And you’re going through the Harry Potter books right now?
Barry: That’s correct. Yeah, we used to do two chapters at a time, and then I was like, “That’s a lot of material to cover.”
[Laura laughs]
Barry: And so we’re one chapter now a week too, and we also just started Lord of the Rings episodes in preparation for The Rings of Power.
Laura: Oooh.
Andrew: Oh, cool.
Barry: So I love multiple fantasy worlds. It’ll always be a Harry Potter pod, but every once in a while, we’ll branch out and cover other things too.
Andrew: Yeah, that’s great. Yeah, we tried to compress three chapters into one episode, and it just wasn’t working. There’s too much to talk about as the books go on. You know.
Barry: Yeah. I was surprised when I did my very first just one chapter episode, and I thought, “Man, I wonder if this will even be enough for an episode.” I felt like I was cheating my listeners out of content. And then it ended up being an hour and a half, and I was like, “Never mind. This will work just fine.”
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Yeah, it’s reassuring to know we can so easily talk about Harry Potter after all this time. Well, anyway, welcome again. We’re excited to have you on and hear what you think of the TV show trailer and whatnot today. Listeners such as Jacqueline, Chelsea, Rory, Dafne, Keeana, and Katy make this show possible. Thanks for recently becoming patrons, Muggles. And if you enjoy MuggleCast as much as we love looking forward to the TV show, we would love your support in a bunch of different ways. First and best, head over to Patreon.com/MuggleCast – like the people I just mentioned did – and become a member of our community today. And to thank you, you’ll receive bonus monthly episodes, ad-free episodes, access to our recording studio, an on-air shout-out, and lots more. We can’t do this without you, so thank you in advance. And as we’ve been doing in recent episodes, we’ve been giving a shout-out to who I’ve been calling MuggleCast Legends. Those are people who’ve been with us for ten years. Eric is not with us this week; should I attempt to sing it like the Animaniacs? Or does anyone else want to volunteer?
Laura: No, I don’t, but I believe in you.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Barry: You got this.
Andrew: Okay, I did practice. Okay. All right, so here we go. [singing] Torrie, Lee, Megan, Amber, Jenny, Lourdes, Ana, Susan, Robert, Jim, Sean, Philip, Helen, Sam, Sophie, Jozette, Greg, Caitlyn, Meg, Myles, Ellie, Jill, Kira, Theresa, Carly, Fsquarede, Julia, Bailey, Thea, Mayur, Stephen, Courtney, Ian, Nicholas, Mahira, Roxanne, Rebecca, Rune, Rayanne, [stumbling] Joshua, Austin, Caitlin, Alex, Kamilah, Molly, Caity, Julianne, Andrew, Patrick, Diena, Grace, and that’s all we have here. Yay.
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: Woo, well done. Honestly, you did way better than I thought you would have, but then I realized you prepared for it.
Andrew: Thanks, I guess?
[Barry and Laura laugh]
Micah: Really, Andrew, you should have just recorded yourself in advance and played it.
Andrew: Nah, I do it live.
Laura: Oh, and then lip synced it?
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Micah: And we should also thank Barry for his support of the show as well.
Andrew: Oh, of course. Yeah, Barry, you are a patron yourself, right?
Barry: Love being a patron. Great stuff on that.
Andrew: We appreciate it. We appreciate it. And speaking of great stuff, actually, we are working on this year’s physical gift. We’re very close to finalizing it. We should be able to announce it soon officially, but we’re pretty excited about it. It’s going to help people with the TV show and onward, right, Micah?
Micah: Yeah, I think it’s definitely something people will get great use out of over the next year or so.
Andrew: It’s one of those things where it’s like, “Why didn’t we do this sooner?” It was like when we did the wand. It’s like, “That was so obvious. Why didn’t we do that sooner?” You know? So stay tuned.
Barry: I’m so intrigued.
Andrew: Maybe we’ll tell you after the recording.
Barry: I still have my wand in the car. I have it in my truck right now because recently I went to a wizard-themed party, and everybody was jealous.
Andrew: Oh!
[Laura laughs]
Micah: I was just going to say, do you use it on other people while driving?
[Andrew and Barry laugh]
Barry: Instead of the finger, I just do the wand?
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Repulso!
Micah: If you ever get pulled over, keep your wand at arm’s distance.
Andrew: Well, listeners, we’d also appreciate if you left us a review in your favorite podcast app or told a fellow Muggle about our show, and finally, you can visit MuggleCastMerch.com to buy official show gear. So also just wanted to mention our beloved friend Eric got married, and actually, Micah and I were there. We’ll wait to get into more details once Eric is here.
Micah: Yes. Clearly the toast went well enough; Andrew and I are still physically here. Because I feel like if that weren’t the case, Eric would have probably…
Andrew: Avada Kedavra‘d us.
[Barry laughs]
Andrew: With their MuggleCast wand.
Micah: Yeah, exactly. Made a few Horcruxes.
[Everyone laughs]
Barry: Wow. Yeah, I saw y’all post that picture. It looked really cool. That’s awesome that you guys were able to do that.
Andrew: Yeah, so we’ll talk about it more once Eric is back next episode.
News
Andrew: So time for some news. We actually have Chamber of Secrets news, before we get into more Philosopher’s Stone talk. Chamber of Secrets cast Dobby, Tom Riddle, and they found their new Ginny. As a quick refresher, Toby Jones voiced Dobby, Christian Coulson played young Tom Riddle, and Bonnie Wright portrayed Ginny, of course. So Bonnie Hill will actually play Ginny now. That’s kind of funny.
[Laura and Micah laugh]
Andrew: They were like, “We need another Bonnie.” Billy Barratt will play a young Tom Riddle, and then Lenny Rush will play Dobby. Now, the casting of Lenny is interesting because this person is a little person and is also young, so people are speculating they’re not going to go the CGI route potentially at all with Dobby in this adaptation. Any thoughts on that?
Micah: Oh.
Laura: I don’t know about that.
Andrew: Okay.
Laura: I mean, I was assuming maybe it’s a more convenient way to do mocap given the stature of the character.
Andrew: Maybe, yeah.
Laura: But I don’t know. It’s hard for me to imagine there not being CG involved.
Barry: When you say young, how old are they? Because I’m thinking if it’s a kid, I don’t know if they want to put a kid through all that prosthetics that it would take to not do CG.
Laura: Right.
Andrew: Lenny is 17 years old.
Barry: Young adult, almost.
Micah: Similar to how Warwick Davis went through being made up as Flitwick or Griphook, you’re saying that Lenny would be made up as Dobby?
Andrew: Yeah. I mean, obviously, the person playing Dobby would need the ears if it’s going to be an actual person, or the nose. I don’t know, but it is very interesting that they would cast… first of all, they’re casting way younger, and that’s been a common thing we’ve seen throughout the casting thus far. And I think we all like that because that’s in line with the books, the age of the characters in the books. And then second of all, casting this little person is very interesting. I mean, maybe it will be exactly what they’ve done – and continue to do – with Warwick Davis.
Micah: Yeah, I’m assuming that he’s not a voice actor, right? As far as we know.
Andrew: Yeah. Anybody can be a voiceover.
Barry: I looked up his former roles and I saw he was in Enola Holmes 2; that was the only one that I know about. But he’s also in a bunch of Doctor Who episodes.
Andrew: Okay. Yeah, and then anything specific to say about the new Ginny and Tom Riddle? I thought that Tom Riddle actor Billy Barratt… he’s got a Slytherin look. I don’t know how to explain it, but he’s got the baddie look to me.
Barry: He does seem younger than the one before that played the young Riddle before, so keeping with that. But yeah, he looks a little cool.
Andrew: Yeah. Billy is 19 years old. Christian Coulson was in his 20s, at least.
Barry: Okay, I thought… I was like, “There’s a big difference, seemingly.”
Andrew: Yeah, because Christian Coulson today is 47, and they shot that, what, 20-ish years ago? So he would be, yeah, around 27-28. So they’re casting almost ten years younger.
Laura: Oh man, he could play Voldemort in this series based on his age now.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: That’d be kind of cool.
Andrew: That would be very cool.
Barry: We still don’t know who’s playing Voldemort, right?
Andrew: No. There have been rumors. I think they’re trying to keep it a secret and surprise everybody when they see him.
Laura: I think they are too.
Barry: It’s Eric. That’s why they’re not here.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: I could see that.
Laura: Oh my God, what a… we’d be playing the long game on that. [laughs]
Micah: Who else now is outstanding from Chamber of Secrets? Are there any major characters that come to mind who we haven’t heard?
Barry: The pixies.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Micah: The pixies.
Andrew: We got Lockhart.
Laura: Right.
Barry: They’re introducing Sprout earlier, so… in the movie she made her appearance in…
Andrew: The Basilisk. Who’s playing the Basilisk? [laughs]
Barry: Me.
[Everyone laughs]
Laura: You heard it here first.
Andrew: Who’s playing the mirror you use to look at the Basilisk without looking at the Basilisk? [laughs] So yeah, more casting to come. Whether big or small roles, I’m sure we’ll hear more casting announcements.
Micah: Colin Creevey.
Andrew: That would be a bigger one, yeah. That’s Chamber of Secrets for now. Turning back to Philosopher’s Stone, I wanted to mention this, and I intro this with a sigh because a lot of our audience, we’ve been in the Harry Potter fandom for a while, and one of the things we really appreciated about the books when the movies were coming out is they didn’t do movie tie-in covers for the books. We just had the OG covers throughout the movie series. You always see them do this for book-to-film adaptations. Well, I must share with everybody that there are going to be tie-in covers for the Harry Potter TV show. Books-A-Million revealed the TV tie-in for Philosopher’s Stone, and it’s got a picture… I don’t even think it’s a good cover. It’s Harry walking away from the camera in his Quidditch robes. You don’t see Harry’s face. [laughs]
Barry: I feel like you do this if the books themselves aren’t iconic enough. So you see other movies do this for their books to sort of promote them and make them more recognizable. But I mean, Harry Potter has its whole aisle at Barnes & Noble.
Andrew: Oh my gosh, yeah.
Barry: I don’t think it needed this, especially when you’re making money off of these new incredible pieces of art that are still coming out, these full illustrated editions. It’s almost like a slap in the face, I feel like, to those illustrators. [laughs] But yeah, I mean, people are doing it. But yeah, I get the sigh.
Andrew: End of an era. I mourn these TV tie-ins. I do have something I wanted to share with listeners – I think my parents got this for me way back in the day – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets movie Coca-Cola. I still have all six bottles sealed. We were talking before recording; I think I’m going to pop one open on the Patreon and drink it and see what happens. I might drink all six in six minutes and we can see what happens to me.
[Andrew and Barry laugh]
Laura: You’ve got to set a goal.
Micah: Do we think it’s still carbonated?
Andrew: They don’t look carbonated to me. Let me see if I shake one up. Oh, no, it’s carbonated. Look at that. Oh, it’s like…
Barry: [laughs] I would have lost it if it just exploded right there.
Micah: That tells you all you need to know about why you shouldn’t drink it.
Andrew: What were you saying, Laura, before we recorded?
Laura: Oh, yeah, I was saying the gross thing is that you could probably crack one of those open right now, and it would taste exactly the same as one that you buy at the store today.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: That’s what I’m saying.
Barry: That’s called consistency.
Andrew: All right…
[Laura laughs]
Micah: It’s called preservatives.
Andrew: Would anyone here like one of these? I’ll mail one to you, and you can experience it as well.
Laura: No, I’m good.
Barry: Let me know what it’s like after you do it.
Andrew: Okay.
Laura: I’ll let you be the guinea pig.
Andrew: Deal.
Micah: You can let us know which Harry Potter character it tastes like to you.
Andrew: [laughs] Okay. And the reason I’m going to open them now is I looked them up on eBay, and somebody’s trying to get 25 bucks or best offer for all six.
Micah: That’s it?
Andrew: Yeah, that’s it! What have I been holding on to this for?
Laura: Okay, for real, how many…?
Barry: Maybe just wait till Season 2 comes out?
Andrew: Oh, duh. Good point. I’m so excited to try it now; I don’t know if I can wait that long.
[Laura laughs]
Barry: And then you could pop it with Kit Harington.
Andrew: [laughs] So I think this tie-in cover for Philosopher’s Stone TV show is a warning for everybody. You can get ready for Harry Potter TV show shampoo, fruit snacks, and Sorting Hat-shaped macaroni and cheese. So get ready for all of it.
Micah: I would go for that mac and cheese. That sounds pretty good, actually.
Philosopher’s Stone trailer feedback
Andrew: We got lots of feedback concerning the Philosopher’s Stone TV show teaser trailer, and we’re going to dive into it now. And Micah, you’ll kick us off today.
Micah: Yeah, but I want to know first, before we get to MuggleMail: Barry, what were your initial reactions to the trailer?
Barry: I freaking loved it. It was so good. It made me so happy. I had my little newborn… she’s not newborn now; she’s seven months old. But she was wearing her Harry Potter onesie, and we were just enjoying it together. Yeah, it was magical. My only slight critique – and I heard you guys address this and even had somewhat of the opposite opinion – but the color seemed a little more muted, but that’s such a tiny quibble. And I think even Andrew made the point it made other things pop, like the House hourglasses. But no, I absolutely loved it. I loved all the things y’all caught in your episode, and it made me even more excited for the season.
Andrew: And by the way, some real time MuggleMail: Our listeners who are tuned in live are reminding us somebody else they need to cast for Chamber of Secrets is Moaning Myrtle! That’ll be a big one.
Micah: Ahh.
Andrew: Thank you, Rachel.
Micah: Speaking of age differences…
[Andrew and Barry laugh]
Micah: … they might want to make sure that actress is a little bit younger than she was for…
Barry: No, for the bit, bring back the same one.
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: Shirley Henderson? She’s probably in her 60s now.
Barry: She could do it. I believe in her.
Micah: That would be a great scene in Goblet of Fire.
Andrew: Eugh.
Micah: Yep, Shirley Henderson is 60 years old. Let’s hear from Abby, who wrote in and said,
“Hey y’all! I had a thought after Andrew slipped up and called the new Fred and George ‘James and Oliver.’ What if they made a cameo later as Fabian and Gideon Prewett? Maybe in Season 5, when Sirius is telling Harry about the OG Order, we see some flashbacks that include these two as Fred and George’s namesakes.”
Andrew: That’s an awesome idea.
Barry: They would do it, too.
Laura: Yeah, I think they’d do it.
Andrew: People probably know they host the Harry Potter cooking show. They appear at conventions, signings, all kinds of things. They’re still very immersed in the world of Harry Potter, and yeah, I could definitely see this. And I bet the filmmakers want something like this, at least one crossover.
Micah: Oh, I’m sure they’re going to be angling for little cameos here and there where possible. But I agree, this is such a great idea.
Barry: It would be really funny if just for a little bit in Season 5, when they get to St. Mungo’s, if there’s a crazy room full of all of… a bunch of the old actors…
[Laura and Micah laugh]
Barry: Or maybe as they pass through the different rooms, you see all the old actors in different rooms of St. Mungo’s. That’d be kind of… I’d enjoy that.
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: You need to pitch that to HBO.
Andrew: It’s an unhinged idea, and I am here for it. [laughs] Okay, thank you, Abby, for that. Now we have some feedback from YouTube. Our YouTube video covering the trailer was actually quite popular compared to our usual stuff, so we were very excited to see that. I’m going to start with a correction; I made an oopsie. So a couple of people had noted that I said that Harry in the trailer was trying to levitate the matchsticks in McGonagall’s class, and that that was loyal to the books. That is not true. I screwed up, and for some reason I had in my head that McGonagall was teaching them Leviosa because I have that Flitwick scene just glued in my brain. What was actually happening is they’re turning the matchstick into pins in the book, which appears to be what they’re doing here in the show. So it’s the Transfiguration class, of course. And in fact, I was thinking about it; this is something we didn’t get in the movies, McGonagall’s class. We got Harry and Ron arriving late to class, but we didn’t get the class. So my apologies.
Barry: In my reaction to the trailer, I got something very similar wrong as well. Where the spell on his book… or the spell that he’s saying, you can see it in the captions, is Acufors, and I thought it was the spell in the Chamber of Secrets video game that turns stones into birds, but that’s Avifors. And I said that so confidently.
[Laura laughs]
Barry: It was wonderful being corrected on that. [laughs]
Andrew: In the caption, it said Acufors? That was the spell?
Barry: Acufors.
Andrew: That sounds like a Power Ranger.
[Barry laughs]
Andrew: That’s cool, though.
Laura: Well, speaking of cool, Ryan McKenna weighed in on YouTube, just simply adding, “My first MuggleCast episode since 2019. Surreal to hear your voices again.”
Andrew: Hey, we’re still here.
Laura: It’s kind of surreal to be here.
Andrew: Yeah, literally.
Laura: In a great way, but yeah, I think we’ve mentioned before… I don’t know that 20 years ago we imagined we’d be doing trailer analysis again.
Andrew: Again. For a TV show! Unreal. We’re excited you tuned in, Ryan.
Micah: Will says that,
“With Seamus, if it ends up being the morning of the first Quidditch match, it would make sense that he’s super excited for sports in general and his team is playing. Remember, his dad is a Muggle, mom is a witch, so maybe he watched a lot of Muggle sports with his dad? And he’s EXTRA excited to see his first magical sports match? I think that would be cute.”
Laura: I think this is right.
Andrew: Yeah, my money is on the day of the Quidditch match.
Micah: I thought so too, and then I was doing a little bit of analysis inside of my head. The line that he delivers says… he refers to multiple people, though, right? Doesn’t he say, “Big day, lads”? But it would only be Harry that’s playing in…
Andrew: But I think he’s saying to the dormitory, “Big day, lads! There’s a game today.”
Micah: No, I don’t disagree, but if we were going to throw out other ideas for… I know somebody suggested it could be the first day of class. It could be something else that would level up to that.
Andrew: Could be, yeah.
Micah: But anyway. I’ll stick with the Quidditch match, though.
Laura: I’m just obsessed with that kid.
Andrew: He is very cute.
Laura: He’s so cute.
Andrew: Yeah, he’s going to be a standout for sure. Micah, you said you were analyzing in your head. Don’t you ever do that again. You only analyze on the podcast.
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: I know.
Andrew: Or with me at Eric’s wedding. That’s it!
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: All right, next piece of feedback comes from s6r231.
“I think that when Hermione is talking about summer reading, it’s because when McGongall came to her house to explain about the wizarding world, you just know Hermione would have asked for reading recommendations and that’s what she classifies as summer reading. You can also tell in that scene that Hermione was really hoping that she’d find someone like herself to be friends (after having not found one in the Muggle world). She’s visibly disappointed when Lavender says, ‘What reading?'”
And yeah, people have also pointed out that is Lavender she’s talking to on the train. This is a great point. I think we’ve speculated previously that we probably would see Hermione receive her Hogwarts letter, and quite possibly from McGonagall.
Laura: Yeah, and I think this makes sense too. It’s also, I think, a more sympathetic introduction to Hermione than what we got in the book or what we even got in the first movie, where she’s just introduced as this bossy girl who’s looking for Neville’s lost toad. But in reality, she probably was really trying to find somebody to sit with, and yeah. What were you going to say, Barry?
Barry: They really seem to be making, in that trailer, all three look like misfits.
Laura: Yes.
Barry: So when they come together, it’s the misfits unite. Ron getting the ketchup on his letter, and Hermione looking sad.
Laura: Next one is from ncljiljana. I think that’s how I pronounce the name. And they say,
“Oh, I’m just realizing as I’m watching you guys – Lavender is telling these things about Sorting and the future to the Patil twins. Being twins, they had probably never been separated before, including when they got their letters. But in only a few minutes, things will change for them forever, in pretty much the same way as going to magic school did. They are going to be separated for the first time, into different Houses.”
It’s a really good catch.
Micah: I think we did mention that. It got cut, though.
Andrew: Oh, oops. Did I? Oopsies.
[Andrew and Barry laugh]
Andrew: “Andrew, don’t cut this.”
Barry: Cut it again. Make her feel special, dadgummit. [laughs]
Micah: No, no, we didn’t… we weren’t sure… we were asking if, because of the scene and the fact that it was two people who looked very similar to each other, if those were the Patil twins.
Andrew: I see. I think I may have just thought it was dragging, so I deleted it to keep the pace up. But now we’re confident, we’re ready. Woo, energy.
Micah: So you can go back and re-edit the episode. Since I said that, you could put it back in.
Andrew: No, I’m not doing that. It’s better this way. [laughs]
Barry: One thing that I haven’t heard about the Sorting scene – because people love talking about book to show differences, book to movie differences, all this stuff – I don’t have a problem with this, but I am surprised I haven’t heard anybody say it that the hat doesn’t fully cover their head and eyes. Because in the book, it dips down over and basically covers their whole head, and that doesn’t take place in that scene. Again, not a big deal; I’m just shocked I haven’t heard anybody say that.
Andrew: It would be cute to see that. It illustrates just how young these people are, and maybe it’s actually symbolic of how inappropriate it is to Sort them at this age. If the hat doesn’t fit on their head properly, maybe their futures shouldn’t be decided when they’re 11 years old.
Barry: It also does look a little like, I don’t know, 1984. Their whole head covered, “You don’t get to see,” brainwash type thing.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Yeah, “This is your future.” So this next feedback is right out of the recurring segment on MuggleCast: “Duh, we Americans are dumb.”
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: We need a sound effect for that.
Andrew: Because the Europeans came forward with their comments on the Great Hall.
Micah: Yeah. Well, and appropriately, it was sent in by KnowItAll1005…
[Barry and Laura laugh]
Micah: … who says,
“The flooring is inspired from Oxford University and other prestigious UK universities. They have the same flooring where everyone sits and eats.”
So no, it is not doubling as the bathroom set from where the troll attacks Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Barry: You know what? In y’all’s defense, though, I had this… yes, I’m American too, but outside of that, I thought it did look kind of silly, like a bathroom or a kitchen floor, even. I don’t know. I preferred the stone.
Andrew: But apparently over in the UK, it’s not. When I was a child playing The Sims 1, I would build a kitchen, right? And I always used the black and white tiles for my kitchens. And so when I saw that, the black and white tiles in the trailer, I immediately just went back to my kitchens in The Sims. So that’s why it’s not sitting right with me.
[Andrew and Barry laugh]
Barry: “I could have designed this!”
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Right, yeah. “I had the Makin’ Magic expansion pack for The Sims!” Some people are really going to like that reference.
[Barry laughs]
Andrew: All right, this next feedback comes from m1k3b33. We got a lot of anonymous people in the comments this time. We were speculating if one shot was depicting Hagrid’s hut, and this person said, “Definitely isn’t Hagrid’s hut. It’s a house in Lustleigh, Devon, which is where they filmed the Godric’s Hollow Halloween sequence.” There was paparazzi photos of that. So they think we’re actually looking at Godric’s Hollow, and I think we were speculating in that episode that it could be Voldemort approaching Godric’s Hollow. That’s the hooded figure.
Micah: You didn’t read the sass line, though.
[Andrew and Barry laugh]
Andrew: “Quick Google will show you matching buildings.”
[Everyone laughs]
Barry: Why do people gotta do that? Why do people gottoa say it like that?
Micah: I will say, I’m developing a new maybe even appreciation for YouTube commenters. As you scroll through, it goes from so nice and good, thoughtful feedback, to just complete trolling.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: Yep.
Micah: So this was somewhere in between.
Barry: I don’t know if you want to include it or not, but I had one on a reel I posted from my reaction where the person said, “Oh my God, you two are such children. Grow up, get out of your house, and get a life, and stop living in these worlds.” And I was like… I’m always seeking to be amicable and kind, so I just said, “Sorry you didn’t enjoy this, friend. Not that it needs to be said, but both me and my cohosts are married individuals with houses and children and very fulfilling jobs, so we just happen to enjoy stories.”
Andrew: Yeah. Honestly, we should do a whole episode on this, because I see that type of thing a lot. Not necessarily people pointedly hating at podcasts – though we’ve seen that too – but you see this on social media quite a bit.
Micah: Yeah. What you should have said is, “When you move out of the basement, then I’ll take care of all those things.”
[Laura laughs]
Barry: One of my absolute favorite quotes ever… it’s the dedication in The Chronicles of Narnia. C.S. Lewis dedicated it to his goddaughter, whose name was also Lucy, and he said, “To my dear Lucy, when I began writing this book, you were just a little girl. But unfortunately, girls grow faster than books, and you are by now too old for fairy stories. And by the time that this is bound and printed, you will be older still. But one day, you’ll be old enough again for fairy stories, and by then, you can pick it up off the shelf and think of me, your dear godfather.”
Andrew: Aww.
Barry: That’s kind of where we were progressed to. We’re old enough again for these things.
Andrew: Yeah, agreed.
Laura: I love that. Well, moving on to our next piece of feedback, this is from Holohulolo. I feel like you’re giving me all the really fun handles to read.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Sure.
Laura: But this is actually in reference to something we brought up last week, or excuse me, on our last trailer episode. But also, I think we’ve talked about this a few times: the possibility for the series actually opening up with Snape overhearing the prophecy. So Holohulolo says,
“Opening with Snape overhearing the prophecy is such a great idea! I mean, they have to make sure there’s no way to deduce it’s Snape unless you’re getting spoiled, but from the perspective of someone who doesn’t know the story, it would’ve been seen as simply a precursor to Voldemort going over to the Potters. It could start from overhearing, maybe some whispering to Voldemort and then leading to Godric’s Hollow. It would just seem like the villain’s followers got info and told him about it. Then when they reveal about the prophecy later, there would be continuity; the emphasis wouldn’t even have been on the person overhearing until they mention about a Death Eater overhearing it.”
Yeah, I totally agree. I think that they have to be… if they do this, it has to be subtle, and we need to not wonder who that person is unless we already know.
Andrew: And maybe getting back to that shot of… let’s assume it’s Voldemort at Godric’s Hollow, that could be a good sign that we are going to get a good amount of the earliest period of this story.
Micah: Yeah, I really do think it’s how the show should open, the series should open, and that would align with a TV-14 rating right off the bat.
Laura: Totally.
Micah: If you’re going to start with… whether it’s the prophecy and/or the murder of the Potters, but it would set the tone right away.
Andrew: Set the tone and tell people right out of the gate, “We are doing something different than the movies, and that’s why this TV show exists.”
Barry: I don’t think I saw a note about Snape anywhere else in the doc, so I wanted to say this here: After listening to last episode, any time I see in the series now the Snape actor, Paapa Essiedu, do a smolder rather than a glare, I’m going to be like, “That was for Laura. I wonder how Laura enjoyed that.”
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Barry: Anytime he has a good shot, I’m going to be thinking of Laura’s reaction. [laughs]
Andrew: I’m so glad we talked about that last week.
Laura: I mean, it’s going to come up multiple times over the course of the series. I can already see it. We’re going to be doing our episode reviews every week, and everyone’s going to be like, “Laura, so…”
Barry: “Time to check on Laura.”
[Andrew and Barry laugh]
Laura: Right, exactly. Like, “Out of 10, what would you give Snape this episode?” We’ll see.
Micah: I can’t wait.
Barry: I’m picturing scenes where they’re like, “Oh my gosh, Snape is giving me the stink eye,” and you look over and he’s just… like the Rock’s smolder.
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: Laura is like, “Yes, more of that, please.”
Micah: Yeah, can’t wait for those mind penetration scenes.
Barry: Wow.
[Andrew laughs]
Laura: That’s a few seasons away yet, Micah.
Micah: He can only get sexier, right?
[Laura laughs]
Barry: Aging like fine wine.
Micah: All right, where are we?
[Everyone laughs]
Barry: Who knows?
Andrew: The long Snape paragraph.
Micah: All right, Roanpk6540 says, “In the timetable, each class has a color which indicates which other House they have class with.” Yeah, we were talking about the schedule during the trailer discussion, which is something we never really got to see during the films, and they did a really great job with it. And I didn’t even notice the color sequencing.
Andrew: Oh.
Micah: But that’s also just another cool element to add to this particular prop.
Andrew: Yeah, very thoughtful, I thought. Delightful. The schedule was delightful. I wish my schedules looked like that when I was in high school. Prixie10 said, “The line ‘We can only prepare them’ made me immediately think of ‘preparing a pig for slaughter.’ They made me love Dumbledore and then hate Dumbledore within 60 seconds.” Yeah, that’s something we talked about a lot on the show, particularly the first time we were going through Deathly Hallows, I think. Harry was set up to be a pig for slaughter.
Micah: Yeah. And this is a perfect example of one of those moments that when they were creating Sorcerer’s Stone in the early 2000s, they would not have been able to insert a line like that because they didn’t know that Dumbledore was this master manipulator that was moving all of the chess pieces throughout the course of the story.
Laura: Yeah. Well, and to that point, actually, our next comment from Lissy’s Imagination points out that we may actually need a trailer that’s geared towards the non-crazy book readers who know every single tiny detail and what it means and how it connects to this world. So Lissy says,
“These two first teasers/trailers have been a nod to those of us who already are familiar with the story, but there is a whole generation by now who didn’t grow up with this stuff. They’ll probably need a third trailer that introduces the hook of the story to a new audience; a boy from an abusive home, learning that he is a wizard – but that the wizarding world has mysteries and dangers of its own (troll, Fluffy, the Stone, etc.)”
I think that’s a good call. I feel like they do need one more trailer before Christmas.
Andrew: And we were saying in that last episode, this most recent one was called a teaser trailer, which in the movie world, that implies there is still another trailer to come. So yeah, I think it’s a safe bet we’ll get another one.
Barry: I do slightly disagree with this comment in that the first trailer, I thought we got a lot of set up. We saw a lot of his abusive upbringing, and then, boom, magic world. The hook of the story, and everything with Voldemort and some other bigger elements, not so much, but I thought the foundation was there at least.
Laura and Micah: Yeah.
Laura: I almost wonder if the final trailer needs to be Voldemort-centric, to your point, Barry.
Andrew: Yeah, who’s the enemy?
Laura: To really drive home, “Okay, what’s going on with this kid? Why is he so famous, but he didn’t know it?”
Barry: And that’s why Eric is not here!
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: They’re filming the trailer.
Micah: I also agree with you, Barry, because when I’m looking at all the things that are mentioned here, we do get the troll in one of the… unless maybe this person’s looking more so for a blend of the first two trailers that we got, because Fluffy isn’t… we don’t see Fluffy, but we do get a scene with Fluffy there; it’s just the kids’ reaction. And then we do get a mention of the Stone from Hermione at the very end. So I do think that, yes, another trailer will likely be released between now and Christmas, but perhaps it’s more of a blend. How much more do we really need to see? I don’t need to see Fluffy. I want to see… I want to be surprised.
Laura: I agree.
Andrew: Yeah, you don’t want to see too much. It’s a tricky balance.
[Ad break]
Micah: Last YouTube comment that we got is from Adrisec. Is that the spell you were mentioning earlier?
[Everyone laughs]
Micah: Well, they say,
“When the trio and Neville scream after finding Fluffy, you can also see Neville in his uniform since he was stuck outside and hadn’t got a chance to switch! It seems they are going to great lengths to fit the books.”
Andrew: Oh, great catch.
Laura: They definitely are. I mean, Hermione is wearing a pink night robe, just like she does in the books too.
Andrew: Yes.
Laura: There’s that line… it’s one of those lines that just sticks out to me, where it’s like, they walk into the common room and “Hermione Granger was sitting in one of the armchairs, wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown,” because she was so mad at them for sneaking out.
[Andrew and Barry laugh]
Laura: And so it just feels like they’ve really taken a lot of their cues from not just story accuracy, but environment accuracy, and really capturing these characters.
Lynx Line
Andrew: All right, so let’s move over to feedback we received on our Patreon. We made a Lynx Line post, and we said, “Give us your first takes on the Philosopher’s Stone trailer.” Zachary said,
“The magic is real! This trailer took me back 25 years to the moment I saw the first trailer for the Sorcerer’s Stone movie.”
Wow.
“I noticed multiple faces in the Mirror of Erised. My two favorite characters have to be Snape and Seamus. Paapa Essiedu’s take so far seems like he will lure us into a false sense of security, which I absolutely love, given his story. Seamus reminds me of my 11-year-old son who’s just as little, but makes up for it with humor and love of family.”
Aw.
Barry: Were they saying they noticed faces in the new trailer?
Andrew: They’re very, very blurred and dark. You can’t really see, but you can kind of see silhouettes, I would say.
Barry: Okay.
Micah: There was a short, I think, that I sent to you, Andrew, that there was a very brief clip of Harry pressing his hand, I think it is, up against the Mirror of Erised, and I think you can get a little bit of a closer look at what he’s seeing in that clip. But I’m assuming this person’s referring to the trailer.
Andrew: Wasn’t that same shot in the trailer? I thought it was, because that’s what I’m referring to.
Micah: I’d have to go back and… there’s definitely at least one or two new shots in that short that I sent to you. But next one comes from Emily, who says,
“While I really love the trailer, it took me a few watches to get into it! I think it’s still strange seeing different people playing familiar characters. I find it particularly hard with the adult characters, who are so distinct in the films. Are you guys still having this issue? I think it’s going to take a little bit to fully get used to the new cast, no matter how good the show is. I’m feeling a bit desensitized now after watching the trailer a bunch of times.”
[Barry laughs]
Micah: And she goes on to say,
“I am most excited about the prospect of the show going beyond the books and expanding the world even further. As David Heyman recently described, they are aiming for ‘the books plus.’ I think this is so evident in the trailer. I’m curious how often you think they’ll stray from Harry’s perspective?”
Andrew: I bet quite a bit, to answer that last question. In terms of the adult characters, I feel like this is kind of a… your mileage is going to vary, I feel. So far I’m not having a crisis because it’s different actors, but it’s going to be hard to see these actors recite lines that are burned into our brains from other actors. So that’s where I’m landing currently.
Micah: I agree.
Barry and Laura: Yeah.
Barry: I feel like… one of my really good friends had a similar issue, and to me, that’s one of the more understandable reasons to not be on board with the show yet. I’m just like, “You know what? If that’s hard for you to get into because of that, fair enough.” But just do what this person did and desensitize yourself just over and over again.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: Disassociate.
Micah: In terms of the straying from Harry’s perspective, I think David Heyman actually touched on it in that interview, noting both Ron and Hermione, but also saying that we would spend a little bit more time with Dumbledore and some of the adult characters. So I think it’s a fair expectation that it’s not all going to be all Harry all the time.
Barry: Could you remind me again what is David Heyman’s role in this series?
Andrew: He’s an executive producer. Yeah, so he’s involved, but maybe not as involved as he was with the movies. He was deeply involved with the movies.
Micah: It’s funny, in that podcast the host actually asks him that question, “What’s the difference between your role now versus your role with the movies?” I don’t remember exactly what his answer was, but…
Andrew: I’ll answer it: He’s paid more and does less. That’s what I’m guessing.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Barry: Heck yeah!
Micah: But he loves the world all the same. Maybe even more now.
[Andrew and Micah laugh]
Laura: Monet says,
“I’m so excited! I love that it feels like we’re going to get more of Ron and Hermione and the other kids. Hermione’s scene on the train reminds me that in the books she has a lot of trouble fitting in, and everyone thinks she’s a know-it-all (it’s not just the one moment with Ron). I LOVE Paapa Essiedu as Hot Snape, and I love Hagrid’s voice. The snippets we got in the trailer made me so excited for new interpretations! Also, can we talk about McGonagall’s hat in the Sorting ceremony? And the twins’ massive sandwich at the Burrow.”
Andrew: [laughs] The hat was pretty badass.
Laura: Yeah, yeah. She looked sharp.
Andrew: All right, this next piece of feedback came from John.
“I am excited; they seem to be delving more deeply into the emotions of Harry, which the early movies missed on. The lines from Harry and Hagrid saying he doesn’t fit in and ‘You will find your family here.’ Also, you should create a sound bite to play after every new episode of MuggleCast after a new episode of the TV show: ‘How we feeling?'”
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: That’s a good idea.
Laura: I love that.
Andrew: Or we could just do that every time at the start of every one. “How we feeling, lads?” Every morning of a new episode, I’m going to wake up, turn to Pat, and be like, “How we feeling, lads? Big day!”
Laura: This is going to become a meme related to the TV show. When a new season is coming, people are going to use this to spread their excitement. This poor kid, ten years from now, is going to be like, “Oh, Jesus. Can we stop, please?
[Andrew laughs]
Micah: Chelsea Slughorn says,
“I am so freaking excited! It looks so amazing and magical. My three main takeaways: 1) I cannot think of anyone better than John Lithgow for Dumbledore. 2) Trevor sounds like the giant purple toads in Hogwarts Legacy. 3) I want the Charm Your Cheese book that’s on the Weasleys’ table.”
Andrew: I missed that. Now I want it too. Tara said, “The scene at 1:58 when McGonagall says, ‘For what?’ has been my new vocal stim.”
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: That was in response to Dumbledore.
Barry: I love that so much. Yeah, when Dumbledore says, “We cannot protect them; we can only prepare them.” And I just love the reaction; she’s like, “What are you talking about?”
[Everyone laughs]
Andrew: “For what, D?” [imitating Dumbledore] “Oh, you’ll find out later.”
Laura: She’s like, “They’re 11, man.”
[Andrew and Barry laugh]
Barry: “That’s safety. That’s up there… that’s what we do in a school.”
Andrew: “Dramatic thought. All right, see you later.”
[Laura laughs]
Barry: “I’m Deputy Headmistress. We need to get on the same page.”
Laura: And finally, Carlee says,
“As a backstory person and someone who loves to fit the pieces together, so to speak, I’m thrilled to see it looks like they’re paying attention to even the smallest details. I love that they’re including more backstory on the other characters, and it feels like back in the day when Pottermore’s readings were revealing new information to us. It makes me giddy to think that there will be things shown in this series that we don’t know yet! And as for Hot Snape, it’s just carrying on tradition at this point, since I know I’m not alone in having crushed pretty hard on Alan Rickman’s Snape!”
Andrew: Wow. I love all this Hot Snape feedback.
Laura: I’ve heard this from people.
Andrew: Really?
Barry: I missed that, apparently. [laughs]
Laura: Well, I think we were too young, but probably, if we were our ages now back when these movies were coming out, we might have been attracted to Alan Rickman’s Snape. Who knows?
Andrew: I could see that.
Barry: What’d you think of Die Hard? Hans Gruber.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Andrew: I love this Pottermore comment too. I hadn’t really thought about that, and it’s so true. We were getting so excited when new content was released on Pottermore. They were releasing books separate; they didn’t all come out at once on the website, if memory serves. And we also, of course, got really excited when the author was dropping new tidbits on Twitter. So yeah, this is a lot like that, because clearly, as we keep saying, they’re going to be really loyal to the book, and this is going to expand the book in a lot of canonical ways. All right, well, that’s all the feedback. Thanks, everybody. It’s been fun discussing this all. Any closing thoughts before we wrap up?
Micah: When do we think the next trailer drops? We talked a little bit about this during our trailer discussion episode, but I’m curious.
Andrew: Did we say Halloween?
Micah: Yeah, I feel like that’s a… or if there’s a big HBO series that’s coming out, maybe putting something before it would be a smart marketing move.
Laura: Like over Thanksgiving?
Barry: The finale of Lanterns, maybe?
Andrew: Or what about on Thanksgiving, during… there’s going to be a Thanksgiving football game that it could air.
Micah: Well, you also mentioned the parade, which they now have a float in.
Andrew: Oh, yeah, there’s going to be a float. [laughs] Yeah, yeah. Y’all, there’s going to be so many previews; we’re going to be sick of them, just because they’re going to be throwing so much at us. This is exactly what happened with the movies. We’re just overwhelmed, and we’re like, “We’re ready already! Just give it to us, please! We’ve seen enough! We’re going to watch it.” Anyway. Well, Barry, thanks again for joining us. It was a pleasure to have you on. We had a lot of fun with you today. And where can our listeners find you and your podcast again?
Barry: Absolutely, it’s wonderful being on here. Yeah, I host the Retold podcast, live wherever you cast your pods, on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts… bunch of other things too. So we have a great time over there; we play Harry Potter trivia and cover the books chapter by chapter as well, highlight differences between books and movie and extra lore. And we’re also covering Lord of the Rings now.
Andrew: Yeah, great. I’m sure a lot of our audience is interested in both of those topics, so listeners, check out Retold.
Laura: Definitely.
Andrew: And here on MuggleCast next week, Chapter by Chapter returns with Chapter 8 of Deathly Hallows. Well, this couldn’t be more perfect. The chapter is “The Wedding,” so that’s a perfect opportunity to talk about Eric’s wedding.
[Everyone laughs]
Barry: Aw.
Micah: That’s what we’re going to do the whole time.
Andrew: Yeah, we’re going to connect the threads between Eric’s wedding and this wedding in the book. [laughs]
Laura: Well, I hope there aren’t too many threads to connect.
[Andrew and Laura laugh]
Micah: Eh, you never know.
Andrew: It was under a tent.
Barry: Yeah, it gave me vibes of the wedding in Deathly Hallows when I saw those pictures.
Micah: Minus the Death Eater attack, yeah.
Andrew: Right, yeah, it ended on a good note. All right, so listeners, visit MuggleCast.com for links to our social media, our Patreon, our transcripts, our favorite episodes, and lots more. Thank you so much for listening. I’m Andrew.
Micah: I’m Micah.
Laura: I’m Laura.
Barry: And I’m Barry.
Andrew: See y’all next week. Bye.
Laura: Bye, y’all.
Micah: Bye.