Producers confirm Emma Watson throwback photo mistake in Harry Potter reunion special

The stars of Harry Potter may have returned to Hogwarts, but they accidentally brought a special guest with them. Namely, a young Emma Roberts.

During the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts special, a childhood photo of Roberts, the American Horror Story and Scream Queens actress, was used instead of the real Hermione Granger, Emma Watson.

Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty; Amy Sussman/Getty

A fan pointed out the error, and with receipts no less — a screenshot of the same photo from the HBO Max special that Roberts had previously shared on her Instagram.

To be fair, this kind of thing probably happens with Emmas all the time. I'm sure both Roberts and Watson have been mistaken for Emma Thompson, Emma Bunton, and Jane Austen's Emma on numerous occasions. It's what some might call the importance of being Emma.

In a statement to EW, producers of Return to Hogwarts admitted they had expecto-ed the wrong patronum and promised to remedy the issue.

"Well spotted Harry Potter fans!" reads the statement. "You brought an editing mistake of a mislabeled photograph to our attention. New version up shortly."

Nick Wall

The special Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts premiered on New Year's Day and marked the first time that most of the cast members had been together since the epic film franchise wrapped filming. The first Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone arrived in theaters in 2001 and spawned a franchise that concluded ten years later — after the eighth film was released in 2011. A prequel spinoff franchise, Fantastic Beasts made its debut in 2016, and a third installment, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore will premiere on April 15, 2022.

Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts is currently streaming on HBO Max.

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