Culture
Behind The Wand and Friends - Eric Scull
In this final episode of the mini-series 'Behind The Wand and Friends,' host Eric Scull, a pioneer in Harry Potter podcasting, shares his journey from skepticism to obsession with the series...
Behind The Wand and Friends - Eric Scull
Culture •
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Interactive Transcript
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Hi everyone and welcome to episode 8 of Behind the Wand and Friends. And sadly this is
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the final one in this mini series for now. To wrap things up I honestly couldn't think
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of a better guest than the Harry Potter podcasting OG Eric Skull. Eric is part of the Muggle
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cast team who launched the very first Harry Potter podcast 20 years ago. I've been lucky enough
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to call Eric a friend for the past four years and he was really a huge support when I was first
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getting this podcast off the ground which is something we dive into in our conversation today.
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So with about two decades of Harry Potter to unpack let's not waste any time this is me chatting to Eric.
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Okay let's go let's go back to the beginning let's have Eric's Harry Potter origin story. So do
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you remember your first first hearing the name Harry Potter? I was in seventh grade in US
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public school and Harry Potter was inescapable. It had taken the nation by storm and you know
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throughout 1998, 1999, 2000 the books had been published there and I was in a world skeptical of what
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what's this new hype about this boy who's a wizard it's like okay sure I was not much of a reader.
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I it's not like I held up some other bastion of fantasy that was sure to be so much better than
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Harry Potter I just didn't I just didn't know I just didn't know and I can remember hearing about
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Harry Potter and being a little curious and a little skeptical and my school at the time had a
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program called he was like accelerated reader where you really gets you to read books in between
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days of school and then you quiz on them and you get points and there was a threshold you had to
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get a certain amount of points the Harry Potter books but partly because of how dense they are
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and with the fourth book out which is twice as long as all the others was worth all of the required
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points for that year because there's like apps because they you know alternately I ended up
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reading a bunch of like the Nancy Drew mystery books which are like much much shorter much less than
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you know you could read six of those or you could read one govel to fire so you were thinking
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right I was thinking great I will so I started I picked up govel to fire as my first Harry Potter
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book I had no no Shin the movie was not out yet yeah and the first movie and I read the first
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chapter of govel to fire you're familiar with the first chapter of govel to fire it's one of the
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worst chapters to just pick up as your first introduction because Harry's not in it you know and
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it's which is a bold departure I actually love the chapter I feel the need to say I love the chapter
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but at the moment I was like who who is wormtail what a awkward name there's this old guy who's
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in a town somewhere and there's village gossip I was like this is not for me I put the book down
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I ended up having to read a lot more books that that year because Harry Potter just wasn't doing it
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for me it would not be for another year when a friend's mom extended an invite to me to see the
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first movie on opening weekend and I sat in the chair and was taken into Harry's world the way
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so many were yeah and you know handheld and John Williams just cushioning my entry yeah that I
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it wasn't until then that I could finally see what the the world was about and you know that
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that year then following the release of the film was when I became obsessed and looking back I've
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been obsessed ever since I know well yeah it's been a yeah that's it's been a long journey for
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you really isn't it because so how do you get from that point to creating pretty much the original
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Harry Potter podcast it was it was the very first it was the first Harry Potter podcast yeah and
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the the mechanism for that was really muggle net which was one of the sort of titans of Harry Potter
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fan sites and it you know sort of had very humble origins a homeschooled kid named Emerson started it
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in his teens and it grew to become you know right around the time that the first movie came out it
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was already like the most trafficked Harry Potter website at the time yeah and I
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became associated with that they did a segment called a pan of the week or Potter profiles where
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they sort of interview you know readers who write in and go I'm a big Harry Potter fan it's like
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how big of a fan are you and um anyway I was featured on that segment for some crazy fan things
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that I did and ended up getting a chat with with the webmaster who then said what how would you like
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to run a section on muggle net and it was the weekly caption contest which used stills from the film
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and you know just really generated a lot of user-submitted humor yeah I ended up I really loved
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you know I wouldn't do sleepovers the first year because at Saturday at midnight I had to
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upload the the latest captions to the website so that it would be live for everybody yeah it was
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you know only a few years later that podcast became the thing and there was an internal staff chat
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that said there's this thing now called podcasts um what if muggle net you know did a basically
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a reading of the news of the the week and news because when the films were in production and not all
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the books were out there was enough news every single week of the year to have an hour long
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discussion of even if you're just reading the articles you know verbatim no commentary would take
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that's how you know you know how massive the production isn't how many different areas that it
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touched and how many people that it touched so it really was through working with muggle net that
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muggle cast was started and and what we quickly realized was something that has and will outlasts
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at all I think which is that the connections between hosts and are we sort of although we were all
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united in in being Harry Potter fans we all brought something different to the table from our own
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personal experiences um and talking about it we we all found you know there's a lot of personal
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growth involved I learned that not only was I passionate about this thing but I could uh discuss it
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in a way that really elevated like for me with when discussing with others it elevated the source
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material and so a lot of this like literary analysis and getting into that like chatting with my
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friends yeah and having that be the show that it's Harry Potter friends that are coming together
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ended up being very successful for us so muggle cast next year which is still weekly by the way
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next year we'll turn 20 years of age that is such an achievement that really is amazing
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and like can you talk through some of like the highlights of because you really have had a lot of
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you know people who would do with the film on on your show like you've really gone all over the
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place with it yeah we some of those uh relationships were built at the cons um you know definitely
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the Harry Potter conventions were a great way to access the talent from the films and
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kind of show them what we do and see them as you know fully rounded people as well um and that
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really made a lot of connections helped us make a lot of connections but even early on um again
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through mothernet with that journalist angle and the the press angle um we were able to interview
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people like Jim Dale who is US narrator of the books um we had David Hamon on our big episode 200
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for muggle cast which is like my cat my co-host and I we interviewed him and it's like our favorite
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episode of muggle cast because he just brought the level of like respect and for the source
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material and and you could tell how much he cared and he was just so generous with his time um and so
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some of our favorite hutch stone moments of the show have been you know directly with cast and crew
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that had worked on the movies um you know and that said also as as like different milestones have
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come up we also have personally had different milestones and created different segments that have
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stood the test of time and all this stuff so it's been uh I think I want to say to the question
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but it's been wonderful over the years yeah no you've just just saying you've had so yeah like the show
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is just evolved and grown and you've had real yes real like I don't know the word for it but like
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like like for example having David Hamon on the 200th episode is like a real moment um you know
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if it's not just your listeners but it's like the fandom in general just having him out there
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like interacting with us and yes so like you've really had some real moments like that with your
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muggle cast um journey but so what would you say has been the hardest thing over the last
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20 years you can say yeah 20 years is it 20 years next year sorry next August yeah so we're
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at the 19 years later point uh right now and every year there's been a fun thing to say like
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our podcast can vote yeah well don't do that it's voter fraud but but you know it's 18 when it turns
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sweet 16 we had like a release wooden car for our patrons it was really cool um but yeah uh I
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would say that the hardest part whenever we tell someone that you know our podcast turns 20 people
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get it because they they know Harry Potter it's ubiquitous is everywhere but they still ask and
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rightly so what do you talk about yeah and that has been a challenge that we've all warmed to
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but a consistent challenge see as a complete contrast to the week of news in 2006 when literally
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everything was happening with everyone yeah um you know that dried up about 12 years ago
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okay and and so you know there are still tangential things happening with the people that
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worked on the movies or the people you know things with the books that warrant um further looks
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and and that's been one of the things that we've solved for essentially is although we did a lot
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of breeding and a lot of analysis um the first let's just say because we're going with it 200 episodes
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um since then we've grown up you know and there is a fresh perspective that we now offer
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of being sort of adults and looking at these series something I never would have in a million
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years thought to talk about on on Mugglecast in you know the younger years was how everyone's
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constantly in danger always and these adults are completely irresponsible for putting these children
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through this stuff yeah you know not what these these parents actually let their kids go to school
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it's not like mandated they're not taken away from them forcibly to attend this dangerous
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institution that will fill them yeah you know so I would say the show is just a constant series of
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of evolutions and little little evolutions and the craziest thing about it all is that we you know
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Mugglecast predated YouTube and social media and a lot of the ways in which podcasts are now enjoyed
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and has also had to do a lot of from a production standpoint um you know Andrew my colleague is
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really adamant about always maintaining good quality for the show um and so we've had to
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grow and evolve with all of those sort of industry challenges they are now podcast conferences
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that are all about the industry of podcasting yeah you know and and that is much different from back
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when it was on the iTunes directory that you had this sort of sort and download manually to a you
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know your iPod with a cable attached uh it's just been it's it's totally changed how people get
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and listen to podcasts and and why and how and we've changed yeah so it's really been a lesson in
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growing with those changes and and what hasn't diminished or what what's never been manufactured
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enforced is our passion um for these stories in particular um and what we got out of them both
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as kids and what we continue to get out of them as adults and do you ever see an end point for Mugglecast?
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it's possible there's also been the idea of like when we all have kids one day having like a Muggle
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cast junior you know kind of show that can run for 20 years you know and like well we're at that age
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where our listeners have kids now that are like listening to the show we have a few like younger
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like protein you know listeners who write in and it's wild because our show being 20 means that
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some of our listeners you know we're not born when we started it we were all in high school we were
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17 15 maybe one just out of college but it it really is a lesson in perspective uh to see that
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happen do you think there was I mean I don't I don't know how to word this but was there a
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freedom that came with actually just being in high school and just putting something on with almost
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like you know podcasting wasn't huge as as now it's like a huge thing and now is there
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I don't know what I'm trying to say like maybe more pressure behind behind it do you feel that at
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all? I think so I think that what has been a really great thing for us to keep us in in check and
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always thinking about what the the pressures are today have been the rise of very successful Harry
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Potter podcasts that started way later. One of the the ones that I'm thinking of is Potter
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List run by Mike Schubert which started in 2017 I don't want to get it wrong but like that's way
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later than 2005 and you know and Mike is great and the show is great but seeing how that sort of
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thing can exist uh and then at the same time have us who were like these we've been referred to
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as like the OG Harry Potter fans are there since the start to speak to an entirely different audience
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of people reading the books for the first time now I mean that's the great thing about Harry Potter
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is never going away and so you constantly have new generations and so with that understanding that
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podcasts have changed what people want out of a podcast has changed um who actually listens has
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changed etc so I think seeing other Harry Potter um you know the swish and flick crew it's sacred
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text another one these massive massive Harry Potter podcasts seeing what they do seeing that and
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having to also be true to ourselves stay relevant not simply copy other formats has been a real
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journey um fortunately the fandom has always been very welcoming but wide enough for all of us
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um that we've each been able to cultivate something that we can feel proud of yeah totally and I
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mean like I guess I kind of had reservations about starting you know I'm really new to the game
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Ingenberg in comparison to you to you know your team but I think like this sounds like a negative
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thing I'm going to say but it is very saturated the Harry Potter market um you know in terms of like
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not not I'm not saying specifically podcasts I'm just saying in terms of like fan fiction fan arts
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say like I don't know like there's just so much out there and I think I I know that just because
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obviously my algorithm is heavily Harry Potter related so you get served a lot of stuff and I think
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like when I first thought about doing a podcast you do think like well what can I do that's not
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out there because there's so much and luckily the stuff is so good that's out there you know it's
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not filled with trash there's actually like I mean all the podcasts you've just listed is really good
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quality content so it's trying to think like what if you're going to bring something what are you
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going to bring and actually like you know that the Harry Potter fandom I'd say is also pretty
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unforgiving of having like sub talk on 10 like it has to be good it has to be I don't know that's
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everything nowadays don't waste my time my time's too short you know kind of yeah thing there there
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is some toxic negativity that can exist on the internet unfortunately um but I hope you know it's
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our experience and I hope it's your experience that the majority of the audience that you're
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reaching really love what you do and you found that unique perspective to bring into podcasting it's
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so funny to think about by the time that you started your podcast podcast was almost one of the oldest
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media forms it's right up there with like radio that had huge transistors on it you know like
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it compared to TikTok and all the ways in which people interact with this sort of thing it's so
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funny but yet I've been proud to know your podcast and start and see how you really carved a path
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for yourself and differentiated yourself and we're able to find success in doing that thank you
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because actually we should we should mention that you were part of the behind the one origin story
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and I don't know if you'll remember this but the title that you and I loved was beyond the one
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do you remember this I do and cat was like no I don't think it's beyond the one it's behind the one
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and we were like okay and now what I'm thinking is thank god I did not call it beyond the one because
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that would have been just a he nightmarish I have his book right behind us yeah I would reach back
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and grab it but yeah when Tom Felton's memoir you know and I you know maybe that was a bullet dodged
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I also agree with cats take that it was like behind the scenes behind the one but I just I still
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love that rhyme yes the one the one that's stillable oh but yes I do recall and it's it's the
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but it's just a it's been a fun journey you know to to kind of just see how things like that happen
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yeah yeah you just think like was that yeah I think it was lucky that we didn't go
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with beyond the one even though I still get people saying oh you've copied his title and I'm
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like actually the podcast came up he copied yeah he copied me yeah yeah yeah yeah I mean that
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would have been that conversation because you're bad at that point you would have had an established
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you know podcast with the same title Tom would have had to pick a different title
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I'm sure that which you can't imagine happening but thankfully I didn't come to that and actually
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I love behind the one I think it I think you know it works and so let's move on if you're happy to
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two sort of the future I kind of wanted to get your opinion on there being no do you know what
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scrap that that's not what I want to ask you I'm going to ask you first of all are you in the film
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Harry Potter film camp or the Harry Potter book camp if you could only watch one or read one ever
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again what would it be which one would it be reading the book series or what in the film series
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it's the books um and has that have you ever gotten the answer movies yeah
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yeah okay okay I because meaning no disrespect to the millions of people that worked on those films
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and the amazing and this is not I'm not being facetious I'm not making a joke or a he or a ha ha
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they did amazing work yeah and the chronicle that we the many sources that we now have to
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chronicle all of the work that that was done on those eight movies is phenomenal and it is a
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story of our lifetime how something so massive could be brought to to to existence yeah um and I
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will never tire of reading about or listening to how those movies were made when you really look at
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it in terms of the adaptation there is so much to Harry's world that any reader will have
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resonating with them that was never brought to screen yeah yeah this is I mean not even scenes
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were talking themes were talking entire depths and levels that you could never back when the
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format was major Hollywood blockbuster there would never have been any time for how many things
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were cut for pacing or for you know all of this so I would say books because that to me is the
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the whole world that the films then expertly you know rift on but it but I would only call it
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a rift compared to the the depths of of of everything that exists in the books and and even though
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I came to the movies first as I said the first movie without that first movie I would have never
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given the book a second chance because my time is not able to waste my time but you know it's
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seventh grade I had all the time in the world but yeah I I do I am the books would be
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your answer so then that brings me on to so then are you when you heard about this series and the
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fact it was going to be a true a they're saying adaptation of the of the books are you like yay
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the series or are you like nay the series that's an interesting follow-up question
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because so much of these things don't exist in a vacuum right and so the time that has passed
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between when you know the eighth phone was released and today the media climate has changed what
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I like about today is serialized storytelling on TV is the norm anytime that you have you know
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essentially TV has the potential TV nowadays has the potential to be what the Harry Potter series
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always needed to fully capture the magic of of reading the books yeah so for that I am excited
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um from a production standpoint I am have been less excited by what we know about you know who's
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attached how it's going to be made and the climate and environment in which this new tv series is
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going to be produced gives me serious pause um and so I occupy not to play devil's advocate at all
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but I occupy a very middle ground uh when it comes to this I'm I'm optimistic that tv is the
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format that the series always needed to to have like a really authentic faithful adaptation of the
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books that I love so much but I also do I I cannot or have not brought myself to be ultimately
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extremely excited that this series will be what we always wanted in the end or will be free or
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exist in a time and place that allows us to kind of forget that we've moved on in some ways from
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the culture and the era in which the books were first published yeah so
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but so do you think that's to do with like casting then that you think that's going to be
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there will never be I think a deficit of talent um there are so many I mean look at all the unknowns
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that were cast in the Harry Potter films and how good a job they did over the years um you know I
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don't think that I'm underwhelmed by the potential forecasting um I think that whoever is cast
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as these young children will be roped into some ironclad contracts that will be very difficult
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to really negotiate or get out of and that the people that we've seen CEOs of major media companies
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be very pressured into being very profit seeking uh actually not having quality in mind when they're
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taking their executive decisions and so when you talk about casting I really feel for the type of
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you know environment in which some of these young professionals will be working in that values
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the product over um sort of other considerations and so having not worked in the industry I have
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a concern for um and we're seeing that with everything with with labor not being properly valued
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and and all of these films that are being you know created filmed produced but then never released
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for attacks right off you know it is a it actually pretty dark environment it seems as a
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consumer of modern media and so that's that's where I have my sort of pause yeah I get where you're
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from um but my home is oh sorry my dog yeah meadow um but I hope she's always every episode
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she does yeah yeah yeah that great um my hope is though that in terms of the production behind
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the scenes is that and I mean you're actually one of the few people that I can say would
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will know this from meeting David Heyman is that he's still attached and I genuinely think he's
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one of the nicest nicest people in the whole world somebody who really cares about Harry Potter
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and I think he also cares about the fandom I like to think he cares about the fandom I like to think
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that too and I think that he as far as I recall from working on the films like always
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made sure we were having fun that was his thing he wanted it to be a good time he wanted the kids
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to turn up and want to be there there's nothing worse than having 10 kids saying we don't want to be
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here anymore and he did really try and I can remember like distinct examples of where he sort of like
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I'm gonna say went out of his way but obviously he's oiled by like a you know a big machine but like
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he did go out of his way to like make sure you know like for example when we were filming on
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location he made sure my family could always come up always come and stay with me like every weekend
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if my brother and sister my dad could calm if I was with my mom he'd often say to us like what do
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you what do you want to do like what do you like doing for fun and would tell him and he'd like
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sort that out for us and that was like direct conversation with him like he'd be really present
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wow so I can really really only hope that that's the role he has in this film and if he does
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I know that those children will be really well like I remember he did this like when we were all
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at school we all had to draw an owl and then we pinned them up down the quarry door of the studios
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and then like he took the time to come and like judge them and like who's was the best
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and then mine was the best and then I got this like owl egg like um paper like fake paperweight
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thing that he got that he gave us like he was just like that with the kids like really like
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lovely guy um so I could only hope that he still has that presence there and he's ensuring
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the environment is is the same but I mean it's such a I don't know I think just the whole
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movie making process or even TV making process is just become a whole different beast almost
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so I just don't know what it would be like now but I can only hope it's like that for them
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yeah and but I mean social media again we you know we mentioned sort of toxic negativity
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but if you look at what young actors are subjected to uh in the media social media environment
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I think a classic example is milli bobby brown and stranger things you know the microscope
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that they are under to perform and behave in a certain way although it's always been toxic
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is now just reach new lengths of sort of trolling and devastating so to to re we need a David
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him and like a protector yeah character to really shield I think and and and that will only serve
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to create you know better quality product in the end but it's not everybody's first go to of we
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need a thing done is to have somebody who makes everyone feel comfortable and I hope that they
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hire ten more of the David him and to make sure that the environment on set is sort of free of the
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the toxicity of the outer world which is amplified heavily by modern technology and that's totally
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literally I've just been talking about this at the fact that now people pretty much can have a direct
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line to people which you didn't have like public figures which you didn't have before and what is
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actually mad if you look at the bill and milli bobby brown example is she was giving a phenomenal
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performance for how old she was in those series I'm not shading anyone at Harry Potter but the
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performance is definitely grow throughout that film series whereas I'd say like stranger things
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series one those children the performances are incredible so the fact that they were having
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I think billy bobby brown is also just the toxic side of becoming a public figure not just an
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actor and also comes for scrutiny but you know it is wild to think that they were that they receive
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they're basically trolled for doing what I would say is a pretty solid job on a really good series
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so do you have any so going back to casting because my personal opinion is the whole thing hinges
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on casting and who they cast I don't see people doing an Alan Rickman impression I don't want to see
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somebody doing a Robbie Coltrane impression I want people to sign up for the project love the
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project love their character dive into the books pull out all those little characteristics that we
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don't see in the the films that they can really give you are like especially those peripheral characters
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a real three sixty view of these people that we don't these which some wizards that we don't see
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in the film and I think it all hinges on that yeah I I completely agree and I think there but there
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are a few very easy things that they can do that would make this series unfailable um back story
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is a huge thing going actually going back in time I'm sorry but the films never did a proper
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Snape's worst memory never did a proper marauders subplot at all or you know even
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it just it just never had the time to exist in a a time period other than the present
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whereas the the you know the books go back into memories and really paint a picture of
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things that happened during the first wizarding war or earlier yeah um in really satisfying ways
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but you mentioned the casting and keeping it with you know the idea of casting the I don't
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want to see an Alan recommend impression either and with Snape in particular if he were cast to
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be the age that he is in the books which is 15 to 20 years younger than where Alan recommend was
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at in movie one yeah which then influenced the casting of Lillian James and you know sort of the
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other people who went to Hogwarts at the same time as him if you have a 31 year old or 34 year old
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Snape it's going to look a lot different um and and in fact how young Harry's parents were when
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they died and when they had to go up against Voldemort and thrice defied him the first time
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would be a really good message to see adapted now uh you know the idea of thinking of our
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parents as you know as they get older were more comfortable with the idea of maybe one day they
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get old and die of natural causes but the fact that Lillian James were 22 and 23 and had the weight
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of the world and their son is the chosen one you know on them would read a lot differently now
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and is the story I want to see told so casting wise cast young characters cast young actors as the
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adults and then I think that well inevitably no matter no matter who you get but they also let's
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be honest the rigorous standards of quality are not going away too they're going to make sure the
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chemistry works because it has to the benefit of of um knowing where the series is going fully
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you know in every aspect the benefit of having all the source material from day one is going to help
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with these types of conversations and these types of decisions that are being made well in advance of
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you know you can make a decision about Luna Lovegood five years before you have to cast that that role
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yeah um so I think it would be uh there are a lot of things going for the new series
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absolutely do you have any sort of dream castings in your head is there anyone that you think
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oh they would be amazing yeah it's funny uh you know reading these these clickbaiting headlines
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all the time I love it I love it I love it because the series is here it's like oh we want
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Idris Elba is dumb bulldoor we want to do it and understand his mega on I mean julyan Anderson
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would be amazing I would love for her to be amazing and everything yeah oh I haven't had Idris Elba
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dumb bulldo before though but well I mean the line yeah that would that may have been hyperbole but you
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know whenever there's new talk about either the Harry Potter TV series or Doctor Who it's always
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casting dr's album and yes I agree cast him and more things um but but ultimately no I I don't have
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see I'd have to think about it I have actors that I love but many of them are older than the roles
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uh again if you're if you're being true to the the books and lean james were in their early 20s
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when they died um you know and therefore a lot of the professors at Hogwarts would be mid 30s
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a lot of the actors that I absolutely love are older than that and so I you know we understand
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that there may need to be a few unknowns cast as the kids yeah yeah I would say that I would be
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comfortable if a unknown meaning just worked on the west end for 10 years busted their ass actor
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gets cast as like um reem is luban you know that that sort of thing is what I would like to see
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from the new series is more unknowns and less um you know we needed a role for
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uh Kevin Bacon or something you know it's like okay yeah it's also really amazing but like don't
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you know I wouldn't weigh a celebrities well I wouldn't weigh in actors celebrity status uh
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at all in the consideration of casting them yeah and I I don't know I just can't get read on whether
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uh a list is want to do it or not because I kind of feel like it's a bit of a poison chalice in the
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terms of there's very big boots to film uh in terms of if you're like you're playing Hagrid like
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that's hard oh god yeah no really hard one to do so I can't decide whether I don't I can't get
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a read on whether I think people really want to do it or they kind of don't want to do it I assume
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people do want to do it but and also the fact that you're signing up for a very
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big part of your life really if you're if you're okay let's say 30 and you sign up to this and
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you're going to finish when you're 40 you know that's a big chunk of your I'm not saying actors
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you know they're not the same as you know us that retire I guess at a certain point but like
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that's a big part of your career it's a big part of the trajectory you're going to be honest
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an actor I think so I don't know do you think the people yeah well I mean I mean it's it's like
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signing up to be part of the Marvel movies you know like you you could be used for or your
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likeness could be used even after you die um you know and so it's like it's it is these are
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longer term commitments but I ultimately think that could also be some comfort to you know you always
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know where there's a paycheck coming kind of a thing yeah you but you'd have to find the right
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person who's willing to it is a commitment and I and I mentioned earlier the contracts but
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you know I remember reporting on muggle net you know when it was like Dan Rupert and Emma are all
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gonna renegotiate their contract they might not appear in the fifth Harry Potter film you know
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and it was the real possibility you better bet they're gonna lock that shit down this time and like
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oh 100 any one who's in season one barring death is gonna be in season 10 and a half of
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you know part one of uh you know the final tv series and so I think that the best way to
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approach this is with that awareness and for for for the you know production and everybody to be
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on the same page that this is you know we do intend to adapt the whole series and factor that into
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the pay and the commitment and the film schedule and and figure out what actors can actually
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accommodate it yeah totally okay now I have some do you know what I say this every time I'm calling
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them fun questions fun uh I want wait every question so far has been fun how could they possibly be
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yeah that's actually what follow up at the end I said I've caught these fun questions but hopefully
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the whole thing was fun but you never yeah I can assure you I've had a lot of fun thank you okay so
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my first one is what hook what's house are you in I am in Hufflepuff oh you and there were many years
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where I thought I was a griffin door um because that's just you know all the cool kids are griffin
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doors um and it wasn't until Pottermore uh and the the Pottermore house quiz um revealed my
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Hufflepuff origin and and you know I'll say this about JK Rowling um her energy that was spent on
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Hufflepuff house while writing the books is very nil um and yet the Pottermore welcome letter
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perfectly defined to me not only myself but what house Hufflepuff is all about um friendship
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putting in a doing a good job um hard work you know some trials and suffering but like you're
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gonna get through it together mentality that I think after my teen years after I was the you know
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sort of very I was never a jock but like the just the very bold like I'm a teenager I'm gonna
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rule the world one day whatever um I had mellowed enough by like the early 20s when Pottermore's
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out that I was able to see okay yes actually I value these same things that help above values
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and so I I took that you know Pottermore quiz result and really it rewrote the entire like how
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I see myself in the Harry Potter world and I would I would want to you know in Hogwarts legacy
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I'm playing I you know I played as a Hufflepuff and I was very happy from day one about the whole
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oh see I've just I'm going to I'm I'm retaking the test actually the swish and flit
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girls just sent me a new link to do the test oh like the the OG test that's been like recreated or
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yeah because I think I just want like exactly I just want to be Grafinder when I did the quiz I was
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just thinking what would someone in Grafinder say and I actually just want to like answer it with
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my hand on hearts I can truly find out a house I'm gonna stay tuned I'm gonna do it I'm gonna
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find out okay well if it is the OG one I will say there was some question that I don't think
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ever got resolved as to how accurate the results were yeah because when Pottermore first launched
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they had a house point system that was like competing for different things you did on the website
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and the percentages of each house member were fairly even and I don't think that's representative
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of the type of people that were online at that time so there's some question about whether or not
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got a huge answer so it ultimately does come down to what's in your heart like
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but I want to see your quiz results as well yeah I'll let you know okay what's your favorite book
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first move ask Ben I'm film
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the first or the second and it's probably the first channel so say chamber of secret surely not
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I think that's my least favorite is that oh why I just say I know why and I say this every time
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because I feel like obviously I worked on that one and Hermione is hardly in it because she gets
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bloody pat what's it called by the petrified by the basilisk doesn't she so I just have to come
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into the studios and everyone else will be filming and I'll just be there for school and I feel like
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that's like tainted my view of chamber of secrets anyway I'll leave my trauma behind
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to go to the studios for schooling and yes okay if you could brew only one potion or cast one
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spell but you could continuously brew that potion or continuously cast that spell for the rest
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of your life which one would it be and what would it be
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apologies potion I think that it would benefit us all to walk a mile in other people's shoes
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100% tightly agree um if you could spend one day in a location in the wizarding world where would
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it be and you can't just say Hogwarts you have to be a little bit more specific oh like second floor
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corridor yeah no that's fair classroom yeah no I always say like maybe a bit more like you could say
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well I'd like to have like dinner in the great hall then go back to the common room yeah yeah well
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I it's it's so funny because uh there are so many answers to this that are food related
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for me because like the food is a big part of the books um 100% these feasts these constant
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there they're always feasting um I would sit on a sunny afternoon in the courtyard of Florian
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Fortiske's ice cream parlor in Diagon Alley London uh while he's still alive uh to help me with my
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homework stunning love that love that okay now I have some uh would you rather questions
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ooh love these okay they're not that serious so don't worry because I feel like I freaking
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that one I said okay we're doing what you rather I'm like oh I'm gonna get cancelled um okay so
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first one would you rather have a pet hypocrite or pet festival nothing bad has to have happened to
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see the festival that's a great conditioner that sort of levels the choices yeah because when I
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first said it someone was like I don't want a festival and I was like no no no no no no don't worry
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you don't know nothing bad has to happen to you it's a good one I think um a festival might be easier to
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hide um you know if you want to take it out uh it's less of a production yeah um so
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I'm at home and I am a fan of like you know rescue animals and animals that get less love and
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respect I feel like the hypocrites would have no problems being adopted but somebody might take
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a festival in you know after you get out of them or that kind of a thing so yeah that's real
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I get it um who would you rather have as a bestie Harry Ron or Hermione oh Hermione
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yeah oh my gosh I feel like Hermione is like a lot of people say Hermione and I really thought
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no one would um so that's nice okay would you rather be haunted by peeps who's constantly playing
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tricks on you or pranks on you or I can't wait to see the other the haunted by moaning
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metal he's living in your bathroom oh no um oh no okay peeps can be a bit much um I want to see him
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adapted in the tv series I want him in every season maybe even every episode yeah but he can
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be a bit much and even in the book sees a bit much so I go with moaning mortal and I hope would hope
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that I could strike uh some level of understanding uh with her um because if it turns out if you
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treat this teenage girl that died as a person uh she's less miserable in general which is good for
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and less of a pain to you you know don't be an olive horn bee yeah um and I think moaning
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mortal is much more tolerable totally and actually this is so funny because I haven't thought about
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this with peeps until doing this sort of like mini series that you know you know em you've met
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em all bank haven't you yeah I love em all bank I'm obsessed with her but she's not read the books
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which like blows my mind so when we were talking she doesn't know who peeps is which is in
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saying to me so like I'm asking these questions and I'm like you don't even know who peeps is like
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she's her mind is gonna be blown when she watches the series I think so too or like she's not gonna
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have she like it just made me laugh like she's such a big part of like the fandom and she loves it
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she's such a like a fantastic addition to it but some of it she's like what are you talking about
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I agree completely it's part of her charm it's why I know it's why I love her she's amazing but
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okay would you rather have a time-turner or an invisibility cloak that is a great question time-turner
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okay would you rather have a flying car or a broomstick a flying car um
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it's tough but I need that that heat I need the heat that's high altitudes the heat needs to be
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working I'm sorry a broom would I would be too cold on a broomstick I've never taken out okay would
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you rather have a bucket turn into your most embarrassing memory or receive a howler from a
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pissed off family member in the great hall oh yeah the the the howler the howler I cannot
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understand anybody that says howler I hate being in trouble like I cannot I can't cope with that
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I could yeah for for me you know every you're on the same playing field if they hear your howler
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but it is ultimately one family members pissed off uh opinion and you then can either debunk or
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be like listen we don't get along we never have what are you gonna do like my cousin wants to
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you know call me names in front of everybody yes it's unpleasant but I have a stake I have a voice
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in that your boggared it becomes what you fear the most and will lay bare what you're dreading in a
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way that I think you know no pissed off family member could ever get that deep into actually hurting
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you so that's my justification breaking it down like that I actually think I'd probably change my
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there you go okay would you rather spend the night alone in the forbidden forest or the chamber of
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secrets the bass list is alive in the chamber of secrets you know in the chamber of secrets I know
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what my answer is gonna be but in the chamber of secrets there's only one thing trying to kill you
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and the forbidden forest probably several things are trying to kill you yeah um but yeah for some
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reason because considering the bass list you only look at it and it kills you yeah it doesn't even
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need to like actually catch you yeah yeah any eye contact and it's yeah yeah yeah then the bass
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list is so opi and uh yes I would go with the forest forest okay great then this next section is called
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love potion magic mistletoe avarica dara okay first one I'm gonna do is
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harry malfoy sedric degree and it's love potion magic or no it's magic yeah love potions marry
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magic mistletoe is kiss and avarica dara's kill okay I like drako okay
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I'm gonna kill drako kill draker yeah you know he purchased it in some bad acts and
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maybe saw it at the end but if one's got to go it's not gonna be sedric diggery
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it's not my house oh my gosh for god because when I've asked this one before sedric's been an easy kill
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for people oh my god well it's easy to kill people who die in the series yeah you don't feel it
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oh that was their fate it was always faded uh so sedric and drako and who harry
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our kiss harry just to say I kissed the chosen one and i'll marry sedric love that love that
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okay Lucius Belatrix lock heart oh kill lock heart that's a cool it's not common but I'm
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gonna put him out of his own misery um kiss bellatrix yeah uh yeah marie Lucius yeah he'd he would
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bring financial stability to the union yep that's true that's true okay jenny luna hamaiani
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oh that's a real tough one um I have to marry jenny that has been uh my wish since a very young
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and jenny is such a badass she cares oh who's going luna or hamaiani who you kiss and who you get
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i'm gonna kill her manny i'm so sorry i'm so sorry okay okay uh and i'm a kiss luna
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kiss luna love that okay one more serious loop in the devil love this um i can't bring myself to kill
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serious i think he was done so dirty in the books um but what i marry serious or kiss serious uh
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i'm gonna marry neville reek neville never what provide you could have three neville
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i'm gonna marry neville i think that he would provide i think that he would care um he's a bit
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closer to my age you know that sort of thing yeah um and i can't kill serious so that means
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lupin has to die uh you know he walks out what i'm hearing kill lupin he i it would be unthinkable
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in any other context i assure you uh but and he also is a character that i think was done dirty in
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the writing um you know making his big folly sort of be about this love and look canonically
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i think he's a gay character or bisexual at best so yeah uh uh you know i don't agree with his arc
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but lupin unfortunately uh has to go in this scenario i'm sorry okay so
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you're marrying neville kissing serious killing lupin yeah yeah see i hope that doesn't haunt me or
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we're clipping it so shall
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massive thank you to eric for jumping on the podcast and also potentially saving me from
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some legal drama with tom feltons but publishers eric and the entire muggle cast team have been such
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an incredible asset to the harry potter fandom and i truly hope the podcast continues to thrive
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for another 20 years so as i said earlier in the intro the podcast will be taking a short break while
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i return to my muggle job after having a year of from attorney leave i can't believe it it's gone
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so quick um but i think i just need to get my feet back onto the table there but once i do i'll be
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back with more episodes of behind the ones i already have a few recorded so i'm really hoping
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we can drop some of those later in the spring uh before i sign off i just want to say such a huge thank
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you to milissa clowie tray meg tiff katie m brecchanel and eric for being such incredible guests
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and of course the biggest thank you goes to all of you for your endless support
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i truly truly love this podcast and i really love each of you for listening, sharing, liking,
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sending me lovely messages because it honestly means the world to me but for now it's just going to have
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to be a see you soon and i really hope your life is full of logic and take care
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you