Madhi19 Reddit new post madhi19 on TIL Emma Watson almost wasn't Hermione in the Half-Blood Prince. She had considered not returning but decided that she wouldn't be able to watch someone else play Hermione.

Actually, I think it LOTR that started the trend of shooting more than one movie at once with the same cast. Warner could not do that with HP because the lead actors had to age with the role. And frankly they could not get a director crazy enough to commit to ~~seven~~ eight movies. Nobody is that crazy, well maybe Peter Jackson but he was kind of busy.

from overview for madhi19 http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/2qrwlr/til_emma_watson_almost_wasnt_hermione_in_the/cn98ley