Here’s Why Robin Williams Wasn’t Allowed in the Harry Potter Films

Superfan Robin Williams seemed to have all the credentials to land a part in the Harry Potter series of film adaptations. As an actor, he’d mastered both comedy and drama, winning an Academy Award for his efforts. He was bankable, with several blockbusters under his belt. And he had an in on the first movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone — he was buddies with director Chris Columbus, with whom he’d made the hit comedies Mrs. Doubtfire and Bicentennial Man. 

“There were a couple of parts I would have wanted to play,” the comedian once admitted. He pitched himself to play Hagrid in the original film, according to Far Out, a part that went to Robbie Coltrane. After missing out on that role, he tried again to land the character of Remus Lupin in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Fans of the series know that part was played by David Thewlis.

Turns out, Williams never had a chance. Columbus and future directors were given a casting rule that was rarely broken: “No American actors in this film.” When Williams pestered Columbus a second time, the director reiterated the commandment. “It’s all British. There’s nothing I could do.”

The books’ author was behind the decree. “Jo Rowling and myself said to each other when we first met, ‘Look, we want this cast to be 100 percent British,’” Columbus told Business Insider. “And by the way, I stuck to that.”

Once Williams was denied, other American actors knew they had no shot at roles in the franchise. “It was a British-only edict, and once (Columbus) said ‘no’ to Robin, he wasn’t going to say ‘yes’ to anybody else, that’s for sure,” casting director Janet Hirshenson told the Huffington Post. “It couldn’t be.”

But there were at least two exceptions. Verne “Mini Me” Troyer played Griphook in the original movie. Columbus also cast his daughter as a Hogwarts student, but she wasn’t allowed to open her mouth. “She worked about 80 days,” Columbus said. “But she never spoke because you know the rule was if you’re not British, you can’t speak.”

Remus Lupin would have been a different character had Williams gotten his wish to enter Hogwarts. “Robin would have been brilliant,” Columbus predicted. “It would have been a different interpretation — I thought David Thewlis was great — but Robin would have been brilliant.” 

Williams never completely gave up on the idea of appearing in a Potter film. “Maybe one day,” he told the New York Post, imagining sequels that have yet to be written. “Say if Harry goes to Yale and becomes president.”