Emma Thompson Says It’s ‘Strange’ to Talk About “Harry Potter” When She Spent ‘About 30 Days’ in Total on Set
Emma Thompson Says It’s ‘Strange’ to Talk About “Harry Potter” When She Spent ‘About 30 Days’ in Total on Set
Victoria EdelMon, June 29, 2026 at 4:30 PM UTC
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Emma Thompson in 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' (left); Emma Thompson in 2025 (right)Credit: Murray Close/ Getty; Aimee Rose McGhee/Dave Benett/Getty for Vanity Fair -
Emma Thompson opened up about her appearance in the Harry Potter film series
She joined the movies with the third film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, playing Professor Sybill Trelawney
She said that she spent 'about 30 days' on the film set in total and doesn't quite understand people's interest in asking her about it
Emma Thompson has complicated feelings about appearing in the Harry Potter films.
Thompson, 67, appeared on the June 29 episode of the Smartless podcast, hosted by Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes, to talk about her long career and her role in the new film The Sheep Detectives.
During the conversation, Hayes, 56, mentioned he is a “massive” fan of the Harry Potter films and that Thompson played Professor Sybill Trelawney in the movies. Thompson confirmed her character's name and joked, “She said, fatigued.”
Thompson's first appearance as Trelawney, who specializes in Divination, was in the third film, 2004's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which was based on the book of the same name.
Emma Thompson in 'Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban'Credit: Murray Close/ Getty
Hayes said that Thompson played “such a big character in a world that has big characters” and pointed out her “coke bottle glasses” and how “neurotic” she is. “It's such an incredible character,” he said. “How did you trust that your choice to come in on the first day?”
“It's written in the books,” Thompson said. “. . . I think she's definitely nearly blind, can't see anything, and obviously deeply neurotic because she can see sometimes whether people have the grim or not.”
The actress continued, “Honestly, in my quite long career, given the fact that I'm good 10 years older than all of you guys, I have done many many parts and and I've spent about 30 days on Harry Potter in my whole life so it's kind of a strange thing to talk [about], because it's become such this huge phenomenon and that's a lot of the time that's what people are very sort of drawn to that.”
Hayes clarified that he is also a fan of her work in films like Sense and Sensibility and Saving Mr. Banks, and Thompson said that she wasn't “getting at him.” She agreed that when she decides to play someone in a movie, “You just have to fling yourself into it, don't you? At first, and hope that your instincts are right.”
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Arnett, 56, said that, on the podcast, they often talk about how when you join something “in the middle,” you have to make “a choice” but still “make sure that you're not at a different volume >> than everybody else.”
“That's true,” Thompson said, noting that she often asked herself, “Am I in a different movie?”
Emma Thompson in 2025Credit: Aimee Rose McGhee/Dave Benett/Getty for Vanity Fair
Thompson said that when she works on a movie for young people, “I always consider children to be the sacred audience. They're the people we need to make the best of our work for because it's the first time that they see something. It needs to be so, so good.”
In addition to the Harry Potter films (she also appeared in 2007's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and 2011's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2), Thompson's acting work in children's cinema has included 2005's Nanny McPhee (which she also wrote), 2012's Brave, 2017's live-action Beauty and the Beast and 2022's Matilda the Musical.
The Harry Potter film series, based on the books by J.K. Rowling, featured eight films released between 2001 and 2011 and made over $7 billion at the box office. A new TV series adaptation of the story will be released on Christmas 2026 on HBO.
Thompson is also the only person to win Oscars for acting and screenwriting. She won Best Actress in 1992, for her role in Howards End as Margaret Schlegel. In 1995, she won Best Adapted Screenplay for her work adapting Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. She also starred in the movie as Elinor Dashwood and received an Oscar nomination for that performance.
The Sheep Detectives is streaming now on Amazon Prime.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
