Throughout the 2000s, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson were some of the most famous young actors in Hollywood thanks to their leading roles in the Harry Potter movies. So while playing Harry, Ron and Hermione took up a lot of their time, that didn’t stop the trio from being pitched other movies to work on. One of them was a bizarre remake of The Wizard of Oz that Radcliffe immediately knew wouldn’t work.
The Harry Potter actor recalled this experience while appearing on Hot Ones to promote his new NBC comedy series The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, which premieres in its normal timeslot on the 2026 TV schedule February 23. When asked by host Sean Harris about “bizarre or unique” pitches he’s said yes to, Radcliffe instead went in the opposite direction, saying:
One of the worst ideas I’ve ever heard, during Potter, somebody came to us and I think asked… like, they wanted to cast all three of us, me, Emma and Rupert, in a remake of Wizard of Oz, where Emma was Dorothy. I can’t remember what Rupert was, and I just remember that I was gonna be the Lion, but also he knew karate.
Um… what? I would love to pick the brain of the person who came up with that bonkers idea. I can at least understand wanting Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson to lead an adaptation of another popular fantasy novel, and I could see Watson at that age playing Dorothy. But it all falls apart with The Cowardly Lion busting out karate moves, and Radcliffe was not impressed with the premise. He continued:
I was a karate kicking Cowardly Lion. And I remember I was like 14 or 15, and I was like, ‘I don’t know a lot about the world, but this is a bad idea and it should not be made.’
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious to learn more about this Wizard of Oz remake and if it had any weird twists on Scarecrow and Tin Man. However, I agree with Daniel Radcliffe that we’re better off with this movie not being made into reality. Just the thought of seeing The Cowardly Lion karate-kicking flying monkeys is cringe-worthy.
Besides, it’s not like we’ve been lacking in new takes on Frank L. Baum’s original 1900 novel over the last few decades. Disney delivered Oz the Great and Powerful in 2013, and, of course, we went down a different kind of prequel route in 2024 and last year with the two-part adaptation of Wicked. Then on TV, there was the then-Sci-Fi Channel’s Tin Man miniseries in 2007 and the short-lived series Emerald City that aired on NBC in 2017. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz will continue to be adapted in various ways, but the one Daniel Radcliffe was pitched just wasn’t necessary.
In addition to The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, Daniel Radcliffe can also now be seen alongside Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez in a filmed production of Broadway’s Merrily We Roll Along, which is available for purchase on digital. You can also revisit his Harry Potter years with Rupert Grint and Emma Watson by streaming those movies with your HBO Max subscription.