From Peeves to Neville's grandma, there are plenty of Harry Potter characters who played crucial roles in JK Rowling's series of novels, yet never made a single appearance in the movie franchise.
With over 700 named individuals in the seven books, getting all of them into the films was going to be a tall task and some of those who didn't directly move the plot forward were cut from the action. Here are the ones we missed the most!
Peeves
There are no end of ghosts in the Harry Potter books and many of them crop up in the movies, with John Cleese playing Nearly Headless Nick and Kelly MacDonald taking on the crucial role of The Grey Lady.
Yet for some reason Peeves never made an appearance in the movies, despite cropping up in every novel. Of all the characters on this list, we feel Peeves's omission still hurts the most. Over the years the poltergeist spread rumours about Harry being the heir of Slytherin, revealed Sirius Black had infiltrated the castle and joined Fred and George Weasley to terrorise Dolores Umbridge, yet all those jobs were give to others in the films.
It's rumoured JK Rowling's choice to play Peeves would have been late British comic Rik Mayall, which would have been rather magical...
The Gaunts
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was commended for adding emotional depth to our three teenage heroes, but all that romance and heartbreak came at a price. The sixth book in Rowling's series was essentially a Voldemort origins tale, yet we only got a brief glimpse of the Dark Lord in his youth on screen.
One of the fascinating tales that never made the movie was Harry's trip through the pensieve to meet Voldemort's grandfather, Marvolo Gaunt, who was one of the last descendants of dark wizard Salazar Slytherin.
He lived in a dilapidated shack near the country estate of Tom Riddle senior, with his loutish son Morfin and downtrodden daughter Merope Gaunt. After becoming infatuated with Riddle, Merope slipped him a love potion and became pregnant with Tom Riddle Jr — aka He Who Must Not Be Named.
In the book we see a ministry official visiting him to reprimand Morfin for cursing Riddle Snr and we also got a glimpse of Marvolo's last remaining treasure, Slytherin’s Locket, which would go on to become a Horcrux for his evil grandson.
Augusta Longbottom
Neville Longbottom's grandmother took him in after his parents, Frank and Alice, were tortured to madness by The Death Eaters. Frank and Alice were aurors and members of the Order of the Phoenix, yet also never made an appearance in the films. However, we believe the omission of Neville's indomitable gran, Augusta Longbottom, was far more regrettable.
Neville's journey from the clumsy and shy youth at the start of the series, to the sword-wielding hero at the end of it, is one of the film franchise's most satisfying character arcs. What made it sweeter was the way Augusta was always disappointed with her grandson during his early years at Hogwarts, but her disappointment turned to pride when he followed in his parents' footsteps, helping lead the resistance against the Death Eaters in the final book.
Ninette Finch was due to play Augusta Longbottom during the climactic Battle of Hogwarts, but sadly her scenes were left on the cutting room floor, with a touching visit to her son and Neville's parents at St Mungo's Hospital also failing to make the grade in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
The Muggle Prime Minister
Another tragedy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was the omission of that brilliant opening scene where the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, visited his muggle counterpart. JK Rowling must also have been disappointed as it was reportedly one of her favorite scenes from the books.
Fudge popped into No.10 to inform the Prime Minister he’d been replaced by Rufus Scrimgeour and explain how the wizarding world was now at war. Director David Yates decided to replace the exchange with scenes depicting the fallen bridge Fudge describes and one in which Harry tries to chat up a cafe worker, with the PM briefly referenced in a copy of The Daily Prophet.
Incidentally, according to the Harry Potter timeline the scene took place at some point in the summer of 1996, meaning John Major was Britain's head of government at the time.
Winky
The Crouch clan's house-elf played a major part in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, yet we didn't get so much as a glimpse of her in the movie adaptation. The Crouches were a well-respected wizarding family until Barty Crouch Jr. joined Voldemort's army of Death Eaters, bringing shame to their name.
Barty Crouch Sr used his connections at the Ministry of Magic to keep his devious son at home, under Winky's supervision, but when the young Crouch outsmarts his loyal elf to escape she's banished from her family home. Devastated, Winky went on to find employment at Hogwarts alongside Dobby.
Karkus
The Order of the Phoenix is the biggest book of the series, stretching to a whopping 766 pages, meaning producers were forced to hack great lumps out of the story to get the film to come in with a runtime under three hours.
One of the little subplots that never made the screen was Hagrid and Madame Maxime's diplomatic mission to recruit the giants, by negotiating with their leader Karkus. As the Gurg (Leader) of the world’s last giant colony, he basically just lies about waiting for dinner, yet after he’s killed by a rival (Golgomath) the giants are less willing to discuss Dumbledore’s proposals. We'd like to think Hagrid and Madame Maxime enjoyed their romantic trip though!
Tom Riddle in his 20s
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince we discovered much about how history’s most dangerous dark wizard spent his childhood and came to power, but tragically most of that backstory was left out of the film.
A couple of the most menacing scenes came when Riddle visited elderly witch, Hepzibah Smith, but even more crucial to the series was the scene in which Riddle returned to Hogwarts to ask Dumbledore for a teaching position.
The increasingly snake-like antagonist used the meeting to hide one of his many horcruxes in the Room of Requirement, which he mistakenly believed he was the only student to have discovered.
Ted & Andromeda Tonks
Ted Tonks and his wife Andromeda crop up a couple of times in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but they never make the films. Parents of auror Nymphadora Tonks, who was played by Natalie Tena in the movies, the pair rescued Harry after the Battle of Seven Potters in the early stages of the book and then Ted showed up on a river-bank with co-outlaws Dean Thomas, Griphook, some other goblins and Dirk Cresswell.
It was by overhearing their conversation that Harry learned crucial information about the location of Gryffindor's sword, yet despite the final novel being split into two separate movies, there was no room for Ted or Andromeda in either!
Ludo Bagman
Ludo Bagman was considered surplus to requirement in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, yet anyone who has read the book will know that he played quite an important role the Tri-Wizard Tournament — he was the referee!
In the novel Bagman was The Ministry of Magic's Head of Magical Games and Sports, but in the end his role was blended in with Barty Crouch Snr, who for plot reasons could not be cut from the movie.
A fine Quidditch player in his youth, Bagman was a terrible gambler who failed to pay-up after losing a bet to Fred & George Wesley, went on the run from the goblins to whom he also owed cash.
Professor Binns
Harry and his pal's History of Magic teacher was infamously boring during the novels, so it's not difficult to imagine he was one of the first characters to be cut when they were adapted for the screen.
The one time the ghostly teacher did have something of interest to say was in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, where he reluctantly digressed from his lesson plan to teach the kids about the Slytherin's mysterious chamber, despite believing it of "no importance". This scene was stolen by Mrs McGonagall in the film.
Students traditionally dozed during his classes and it was after a snooze in the staff-room that he passed away. Apparently he simply woke up, left his body behind and went off to his first lesson of the morning.
Charlie Weasley
Let's face it there were loads of Weasleys to get into the films and out of all of them, Charlie was probably the most expendable. While Fred and George provided much-needed comic relief, Percy was seduced by the Ministry and Bill married Fleur, Charlie spent much of his time working as a dragon tamer in Romania.
He graduated from Hogwarts before Harry, Ron and Hermione even walked through the doors of the wizarding school, although in he did play an important role in the first novel, when he rescued Hagrid's would-be pet dragon Norbert before Hagrid got in trouble.
What's more, in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Charlie was one of the dragon tamers on hand during the Triwizard Tournament's first task. Sadly we never saw any of this on screen, with Hagrid taking his part in the fourth film.
Mr Borgin
The co-owner of the imaginatively-titled dark magic shop Borgin & Burke’s on Knockturn Alley, Mr Borgin was described in less than favourable terms by Rowling and even had a scene in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
He's played by Edward Tudor-Pole in an extended edition of the movie (you can see the clip below) but his scene was cut before the film reached cinemas. Mr Borgin also appeared in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince when he sold a vanishing cabinet to young Draco Malfoy, but wasn't included in the screen version.
Hepzibah Smith
Another crucial scene explaining Voldemort's beginnings in the sixth book was the meeting between rich elderly witch Hepzibah Smith and Tom Riddle, who was working for Borgin & Burke's at the time.
Smith developed quite a crush on the young Tom Riddle in a scene which provided a crucial part of Voldemort’s backstory, but we also learned that she was also a descendant of Helga Hufflepuff. Riddle eventually murdered her, before stealing Hufflepuff’s cup and Slytherin’s locket, which had originally belonged to Voldemort’s folks, and turning them into Horcruxes.
Marietta Edgecombe
In the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry and his friends form Dumbledore's Army, a secret group in which they learn defensive magic. Yet this all comes to an end when Marietta Edgecombe, whose mother's job at the Ministry is threatened by her membership in the secret organization, reveals its existence to Umbridge.
Hermione made every member sign a list upon joining the group, which she secretly hexed, so as soon as Marietta spilled the secret of Dumbledore's Army, pustules erupt across her face, spelling out "SNEAK." But Marietta didn't appear in the films and instead Harry's crush, Cho Chang, told Umbridge about the DA after the evil teacher used a truth potion on her.
Phineas Nigellus Black
Okay so Sirius's deceased great-great-grandfather's main role came as a portrait in the final book, but it was through him that Harry, Ron and Hermione discovered crucial information about the goings-on at Hogwarts.
Phineas had two portraits, one hung in the Order of the Phoenix's Headquarters, Grimmauld Place, and as a former Hogwarts Headmaster — "The worst headmaster the school had ever seen" according to Sirius — his picture could also be found on the wall of the Headmaster's office at the school.
His ability to travel between them proved crucial and during Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry, Ron and Hermione took the Grimmauld Place portrait on their travels and were able to tease nuggets of information about the situation at their beloved school from the deceased teacher. Sadly he never made it into the movies!
