Not only will the two upcoming Deathly Hallows movies draw to a close the story of Mr. Potter and his close circle of friends, it will also be the end of the road for all the supporting characters. Most haven’t had that much of an arc throughout the previous movies, but there are some such as Lucius Malfoy, played by Jason Isaacs, who have had a few small storylines over the course of the films, and they will be resolved one way another in the final film.

The following will contain spoilers, which those who haven’t read the books may want to avoid.

Lucius Malfoy has always been the slightly evil school parent who used to be among Voldemort’s inner circle during his reign of terror. In Order of the Phoenix we saw Harry and co. battle Lucius and some Death Eaters, which resulted in Malfoy being locked up in Azkaban. In Half-Blood Prince we saw the effect this had on Draco, who broke Harry’s nose in revenge and was given the task of killing Dumbledore without his father around to stand up for him.

At the beginning of Deathly Hallows we see that Voldemort has freed Lucius, however he has taken over the Malfoy residents and demands Lucius hand over his wand. By the end of the film both Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy no longer care for Voldemort and his campaign, and simply want to make sure Draco isn’t injured or killed during the epic Battle of Hogwarts. We see that while Lucius wasn’t the most pleasant of characters, he was only trying to protect his family. I think J.K Rowling wanted to show this, and that’s why she didn’t kill him off.

Although…during a recent interview with BBC Radio 2 Jason Isaacs hinted that Lucius’ story may not go along exactly with the one in the book:

“In fact, [Lucius' ending] wasn’t planned. It was a decision made about how Lucius should end his bit in the story and we’d been leading up to it for a while and David – the lovely director – came to me and goes “What are we going to do with you that’s really great? How are we going to do the ending?” And one day I came up with this thing and he went “gasp Oh that’s it! Oh that’s it. It’ll be great.”

We shot some particular bit but I still had months left to film. And I went to the trailer and took my wig off and the First Assistant came to me and said “Jason I’m just looking at the schedule and I noticed that, actually, we don’t need you now.” And I said “Why?” and he said “Well because that thing you decided to do means you’re not in that scene or that scene or that scene.” And I went [jokingly] “Ahhh! I’ve changed my mind!”

Did they decide to kill him off? Will Lucius be sent away somewhere? I guess we won’t find out until next year when Part II is released in July. While J.K Rowling ended the series brilliantly in the books, most of the focus was on Harry and we didn’t really get great send-offs for other characters that have been around for the past 10 years. I don’t mind if they change a few things around if it means the characters get some closure they deserved.

In the February issue of Empire Magazine there is an on-set preview of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 which will be released in November. In the article Daniel Radcliffe talks about filming the ‘Seven Potters’ sequence, which fans of the book will know takes place towards the beginning of the film.

In order to protect Harry from Voldemort and the Death Eaters Ron, Hermione, and several other characters drink some Polyjuice Potion in order to take the appearance of Harry, and to act as decoys. Not only will the scene feature seven Harry Potters on-scene at the same time, the following events include aerial wizard battles, chase scenes down busy highways, and deaths.

“We are actually filming what is probably the single most complicated sequence we’ve done in any of the films. Everyone’s changing into me and nobody really knows what’s going on. I’m dressing up as everyone else ad they’re dressing up as me, and, well it’s very confusing.”

“It’s the hardest film to do, absolutely. I’m not sure anyone would disagree with me on that one. But as long as you equal that kind of toughness with your enthusiasm, then it sort of goes away”

Director David Yates, who Empire describe as “considerably greyer” than the last time they saw him, spoke about how different Part 1 feels compared to previous movies:

“Jo [Rowling] described the book as a bit of a road movie so the first of the two movies is gonna feel very much like that. I watched the first assembly of Part One just last week, and the most interesting dynamic is that you’re taking these three characters we know quite well away from the comfort zone of Hogwarts. And you really can’t underestimate the odd power of that.”

USA Today got their hands on the first official image from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. It shows Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint looking a bit wary, and they have every reason to be:

“They’re paranoid,” says Grint. “It’s quite a scary world because the Snatchers and Death Eaters are running around everywhere. Harry, Ron and Hermione are just camping out in random places, living rough, in regular clothes.” Snatchers and Death Eaters are minions of the evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).

Grint adds, grinning: “Me and Dan actually have some stubble.” His facial hair served as a kind of invisibility cloak for the lanky, redheaded Grint, who went unrecognized by fans recently while on location in the Welsh countryside. Dubbed a “road movie” by producer David Heyman, Hallows was envisioned by director David Yates as more grounded in reality than the previous Potter movies.

“It’s going to feel very real,” Yates says. “We’re going for a vérité approach. Being away from Hogwarts, they’re like these three refugees on the run. They’re out in the big bad world, facing real danger, unguarded by those wonderful benign wizards at Hogwarts. They don’t have a home to go to.

“We’re kind of pulling away from the magic a bit and bringing more reality to it,” he says.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 will be released next November and fans can get their first look at the movie on the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Blu-ray which will be released next week. You can pre-order yours here!

With Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince being released on DVD and Blu-ray in just over a week the Potter cast are out promoting again. In the video below Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint are interviewed on the set of Deathly Hallows (which will be split into two) and they talk about illness, wand battles and how the next films will be different to the previous instalments.

In other Deathly Hallows news director David Yates revealed that Daniel Radcliffe will be baring all again. No horses will be around this time, instead it will be in one of Ron’s visions.

(Possible spoilers for those who haven’t read the books)

In one scene, “a horcrux [carrying a piece of Voldemort’s soul] defends itself by producing nightmarish visions, and one shows Hermione and Harry embracing and kissing,” explained Yates. “It’s something intriguing and sensual for Rupert to react to, and Dan will be bare for that.”

In the book Ron has to destroy a horcrux carrying a piece of Voldemort’s soul, and to try and prevent Ron from succeeding it projects visions of Harry and Hermione getting it on, playing on Ron’s fear that the two have feelings for each other. I’m sure Yates will be aware of the rating so I doubt we will be getting anything too graphic or sexual, although I wonder if Hermione will be unclothed too?

While on the rounds promoting Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince the Potter gang, as expected, were asked questions about the next film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I. According to director David Yates they have shot roughly 85% of Part I, and during the press conference the cast and director all mentioned how different the movie will be compared to the previous outings, and that the film will break a structure that has been in place throughout the franchise.

From ComingSoon.net:

Yates gave an idea about what the feel will be for the two parts of the final movie, which should be very different from Half-Blood Prince or anything that came before. “The first movie is a road movie basically, and it’s quite intense and very raw and we’re way away from Hogwarts, and it’s a bit like three refugees being pursued across the landscape by these terrible Death Eaters. We’re really enjoying it actually. It feels very different. The first one is very verité and documentary and edgy and on the road, and the second part is a big opera basically, a great big epic with huge battles and very oddly moving, because it concludes the whole saga really. So they’re two very different films.”

“It’s not very often that in the middle of the filmmaking process, you stop yourself and go ‘This is going to be awesome’ and I’ve done that on a number of occasions,” Emma Watson confirmed. “We’ve just done this amazing scene in the forest where we’re getting chased by the Snatchers, and I’ve never done anything like it, nothing even close. I’ve never really done any serious stunts or any real action, and it’s so exciting and just really dynamic. Because all of us are now finished with school and we’re all just totally focused on this finale. It’s out of Hogwarts, it’s just about the three of us. It’s going to be… well, I hope it’s going to be brilliant and it feels totally different. I feel like I’m on a different film. The other films have this structure: You know, we come into the Great Hall and there’s the opening talk and that’s just gone, it’s gone.”

Producer David Heyman also spoke about using CGI to make the actors look like they are in their late 30s at the end of Part II. He says that they may use similar technology that was used in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, although they are still in “an exploratory stage”. Click here to read the rest of the interviews.

Because of The Dark Knight’s success last year Warner Bros. decided that they’d made enough money for one year and pushed Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince back to this summer. However, it wasn’t just the fans who were disappointed with the decision. It took director David Yates a while to warm to the situation, as he told the L.A Times recently:

At the time, I was so adrenalized, I was so caught up in the process of getting the film in on deadline and making the movie on a certain schedule, and then the decision to delay was a huge anticlimax. There was a huge sense of disappointment, I must say. We finished the film a year ago, so it’s very strange to go all this time without seeing it with an audience, which is what you make it for. But the studio made their case for the move and I came to understand and appreciate their reasons and they are very good at delivering these movies and understanding the process of making a film successful and I think it wise to defer to their judgment.”

“You find yourself fiddling with it much more in post-production, naturally. There’s a good and bad to that. You could keep adjusting things for the rest of your life if you allowed yourself to do that. That can be unhealthy and at some point you have to say, ‘Here is the cut-off date.’ I know fans are eager to see it and it’s been interesting for us to come back to it now, even as we are busy filming the next installments.”

The interview took place during a break from filming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, which will be split into two films. Yates revealed what they are currently filming and gave us an idea where the film will eventually be sliced.

“We’re here in the forest, we’ve just finished the scene where Harry, Hermione and Ron are captured by the Snatchers after being chased through the woods. The Snatchers are brutal and scary but they aren’t the most intelligent of creatures.They’re trying to figure out exactly who it is they’ve caught.”

“Things can change when you edit, of course, but the idea now is that it will be not long after the sequence that we are filming here today. That’s what we’re experimenting with. We’ve had three or four different ideas about where to cut off the seventh film. Traditionally, the movies have ended with a death or a bereavement, some sort of passage or arrival. This time we think we will end with more a cliffhanger. Again, though, that’s the thought as of this moment.”

As I haven’t read the books this means nothing to me (i’ve just watched the films), but i’m sure true Potter fans will know what this cliffhanger may be. Yates also praised Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint for being so ’stable and level-headed’. Deep down society expects young child actors who earn millions and find fame to end up doing hard drugs and become paparazzi fodder. Thankfully for the Harry Potter franchise these actors have grown up to become sensible and generally cool people (not that I know them, i’m just assuming).

When July rolls in it will have been 2 years since Order of the Phoenix, so expect Potter riots during the opening weekend, and maybe a few deaths.

Daniel Radcliffe spoke to Empire magazine about the sixth movie, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince. He told them about a swarm of undead creatures who guard an item that Harry needs to defeat Voldermort, which will turn up in the third act of the movie.

“They’re horrible,” Says the boy wizard Daniel Radcliffe of the beings who look like humans made of only skin and bone and want to get their hands on Harry. “They made me think of bodies from concentration camps. It’s that terrible look of a body that’s wasted away, but not a skeleton. There will be child inferi too. They’re probably the most frightening things of any of the movies so far”.

Director David Yates also spoke about the opening scene.

“We’re opening with a big attack,” director David Yates told Empire when we visited the set. “It’s talked about in the book, but we’re going to show it. We’ll bring a major London landmark crashing down. It should be quite spectacular”.

I haven’t read the book but i’m guessing it is either Big Ben or the London Eye that gets attacked. Which one is it Potter fans?

The image in this post is new, and the full version can be seen by clicking here, where you will also see a bloody Harry front cover for the August edition of Empire magazine. When I say a ‘bloody Harry front cover’ I don’t mean it in an angry tone. He does actually have blood on his face.