Why Alan Rickman Was The Only Actor To Get Harry Potter Spoilers

Alan Rickman was the only actor to get Harry Potter spoilers as early as the first of the eight-movie saga, and here’s why. Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts sees the Harry Potter stars – including the Golden Trio (Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson) – gather on the original sets to look back at the franchise’s legacy and the making of the films, and they sometimes surprise each other with personal memories and big reveals from the 2001-2011 decade.

Perhaps inevitably, there are some main Harry Potter actors missing from Return to Hogwarts, including Michael Gambon (Albus Dumbledore), Maggie Smith (Minerva McGonagall), David Thewlis (Remus Lupin), and Julie Walters (Molly Weasley). But the Harry Potter reunion especially noted the absence of those who, tragically, are not around anymore. Return to Hogwarts offered a great tribute to the Wizarding World actors who have sadly died since The Deathly Hallows, with a special focus on Helen McCrory (Narcissa Malfoy) and Alan Rickman (Severus Snape). But apart from a touching tribute, Alan Rickman was also the center of discussions when Daniel Radcliffe and Gary Oldman confirmed some old rumors about him.

Alan Rickman was the first and only actor on the Harry Potter set to know how the story ends, as he wanted to know all the layers to Snape’s complex character before he could play him. Daniel Radcliffe says: “He very early said to Jo, ‘I think I need to know’ and he never told anyone.” Rickman knew Snape’s whole backstory as early as The Sorcerer’s Stone: his apparently shifting loyalties, his ultimate devotion to Dumbledore, and his undying love for Lily Potter, which motivates him to help and protect Harry in his quest against Voldemort. He knew of Harry Potter‘s future timeline even before the directors. According to Radcliffe, “he never told Chris [Columbus], he never told anyone. Chris would literally say to him, why are you doing that like that? He was like, I’ll tell you later.”

Severus Snape was an immensely complex character, whose conflicted feelings reflected in his relationship with Harry: he deeply loved Lily Potter, but despised James Potter, who was once his bully at Hogwarts. Knowing Snape’s secrets helped Rickman play his character to the best of his ability, something producer David Heyman confirms (via LA Times): “Looking back, you can see there was […] a look, an expression, a sentiment that hint at what is to come … the shadow that he casts in these films is a huge one and the emotion he conveys is immeasurable.” After The Deathly Hallows in 2011, Rickman told the press he knew he was working as a double agent. And in 2016, after his tragic death, a Twitter used asked J.K. Rowling exactly what she told Rickman at the beginning of the movies, to which Rowling replied, “I told Alan what lies behind the word ‘always’.” Now Daniel Radcliffe has confirmed Rickman knew more than anyone else, and he kept it a secret till the very end of the saga.

In Return to Hogwarts, Ralph Fiennes (who plays Lord Voldemort) confesses even he was intimidated by Alan Rickman’s impeccable delivery of lines. Ralph Fiennes himself frightened his fellow actors with his sudden transformation into the Dark Lord whenever the directors would call action, so this goes to show just how perfect Alan Rickman was as Severus Snape. To this day, he remains one of the most popular Harry Potter characters of all time, andHarry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts does an excellent job at showing Rickman as the always prepared but ever-playful and supportive actor that the whole cast loved.

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