The Harry Potter Special Hilariously Mistook Emma Roberts for Emma Watson

UPDATE—January 5, 2022: The producers of the special and one of the Emmas (Watson) have responded to the mix-up! Just a day after the special went up and the mistake went viral, the team behind Return to Hogwarts told EW in a statement, “Well spotted, Harry Potter fans! You brought an editing mistake of a mislabeled photograph to our attention. New version up shortly.”

On January 5, Hermione herself weighed in, posting the mouse-ears pic to her own ’gram and writing, “I was NOT this cute, @emmaroberts 😂#emmasistersforever.” 

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ORIGINAL STORY—January 2, 2022: On January 1, HBO Max dropped the highly anticipated Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts special. It was a joyful, tender reunion featuring much of the series cast and a whole lot of their childhood memories…and one belonging to someone else.

That's right, the Harry Potter special included new interviews as well as found footage and photos of the O.G. cast. However, as one eagle-eyed fan pointed out on Twitter, one package dedicated to Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the magical series, included a photo of a completely different actor named Emma. 

While Watson described her fond family memories about the Harry Potter books ahead of being cast, a childhood photo of Watson wearing Minnie Mouse ears appeared on the screen. Only it wasn't a photo of Watson at all—it was of American Horror Story actor Emma Roberts. I mean, at least they've both played witches!

“GUYS HELP ME THATS LITERALLY EMMA ROBERTS NOT EMMA WATSON,” user @vee_delmonico99 tweeted on January 1, alongside a screen grab of the special as well as a throwback Instagram post from Roberts.

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