Few properties are quite as popular as Harry Potter, which is a bonafide sensation decades after J.K. Rowlings' books were released. Of course, this is partly thanks to the Harry Potter movies, which folks constantly re-watch or stream with a Max subscription. Jason Isaacs famously played Malfoy's father Lucius, and finally explained why he nearly used the killing curse of Harry in The Chamber of Secrets.
While fans of the Wizarding World wait for information about the developing Harry Potter TV series, information about the movies is still trickling out. Isaacs recently appeared at Fan Expo Denver (via Collider), where he explained the very real reason why his character started uttering "Avada Kedavra" at Harry before being stopped by Dobby. In his words:
There was a bit when we were standing up talking — and, you know, I'm meant to pull my wand out and someone said, ‘You should start a spell' and I thought 'I don't know any spells! ’ And so I asked and looked around, and there was a guy doing the lights, [...] and there's caterers and one guy holding a mic, and there's this one bloke, and he goes 'Well there is one, it's Avada Kedavra'. [...] When the film comes out a year later, 100,000 people write letters to me going: ‘You were going to kill Harry Potter!’
Oopsies. Looks like Isaacs had no idea which spell he was saying during Chamber of Secrets, as he wasn't all that familiar with Harry Potter when filming his first appearance as Lucius Malfoy. And it was ultimately advice from a crew member that accidentally started this years-long debate about the killing curse among Potterheads.
While the Harry Potter cast is iconic now, they were ultimately just actors trying to do a job. Isaacs was a great choice to play Draco's father... even if there was a bit of a learning curve.
Jason Isaacs and Tom Felton formed a close relationship throughout filming the Potter movies, and that all began with The Chamber of Secrets. Later in that same convention appearance, the OA actor joked about being green in the Wizarding World at the time, saying:
It was day two on the set. I wasn’t that familiar with everything going on. I got overenthusiastic. I knocked myself out.
Honestly, can we blame him? It wasn't Isaacs fault that he wasn't well-versed in the spells of Harry Potter. So it was up to someone set to stop him if he was using one of the unforgivable curses when Lucius wouldn't have.
It should be interesting to see what comes next for the Wizarding World. The Fantastic Beasts franchise is seemingly dead in the water after the last two installments failed to perform at the box office. And while we're getting a Harry Potter TV show, fans are still wondering if/when a movie adaptation of The Cursed Child might be coming.
The Harry Potter series is streaming now on Max. And while there's no movies coming on the 2025 movie release list or beyond, the property recently expanded thanks to Universal Theme Parks.
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