Ahead of the Harry Potter reboot‘s release at Christmas, HBO Max has released a new behind-the-scenes special celebrating the upcoming series. It’s a short, hype-building exercise that will leave most fans excited for more, but there are some interesting details in there. Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic is available to stream now on HBO Max, and it’s very clear from even the limited footage that the level of detail invested in the new take on JK Rowling’s books is breathtaking. We got flashes of that thanks to close looks at new designs for world-building elements like Bertie Botts, chocolate frogs, and butter beer.
One of the most intriguing sequences of the documentary reveals the incredible animatronics for the show’s magical creatures, including close looks at an owl, a tortoise, and of course, Ron’s pet rat Scabbers. The models are incredibly realistic, which is a testament to the show’s meticulous approach, but the reveal of a biting Scabbers holds a deeper secret: it means we’re going to see another scene that was cut from the original adaptation of The Sorceror’s/Philosopher’s Stone restored in the remake.
Harry Potter’s Biting Scabbers Reveals a Missing Scene is Back
The documentary’s demonstration of Scabbers shows the duplicitous rodent running around realistically on the floor, and then another “biting Scabbers” model is shown to have been created and is seen dangling off the finger of one of the crew. Again, it’s remarkably convincing, and it also reveals we’re going to see one of the rat’s few heroic moments for the first time on screen.
In Chapter 6 of the first Harry Potter book, we’re introduced to the evil of Malfoy’s sidekicks Crabbe and Goyle when the latter attempts to steal Harry and Ron’s sweets. The moment was removed from Chris Columbus’ movie, presumably for time, but it was a great little book moment we’re now evidently going to see. Scabbers hanging from a finger conjures up the image of what happens when Goyle tries to pilfer the treats: “Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle’s knuckle – Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbers finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once.”
It may have made less sense that Scabbers would bite the son of a prominent Death Eater by the time the rat’s secret was revealed in The Prisoner of Azkaban, but it did at least offer some insight into the complex relationship between Ron and the rat. It at least explained why Ron had any sort of affection for him when he appeared to be such a terrible companion.
The documentary revealed just how convincing the rat bite scene will be, and it comes down to the technology developed for the animatronic. John Nolan, Creature Effects Design Supervisor demonstrates how they avoid the creature looking too much like an imposter: “As you push the feet down, it actually compresses, and I can actually move this around. It doesn’t feel too robotic and rigid, which I think really helps the performance of a young boy who’s probably never held an animatronic before in his life.” That same level of detail went into every creature, which was the culmination of hours of research and observation of real animals and birds, and a commitment to detail that meant all 10 of the owls were fitted with “about 36,000 feathers” according to CFX artist Sophie Rechtberger.
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