Emma Watson May Not Sign on for Final Harry Potter Movies

Teen film star Emma Watson, co-star of the immensely popular Harry Potter series, has implied that she will not sign on to film the final two Harry Potter movies.

Watson's character, Hermione Granger, is Harry Potter's best friend and confidant in each of the books and movies. But her co-stars, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, claim that Watson has become distant during filming and has expressed concern that she is being typecast into her role as "that girl from Harry Potter", according to a quote from Grint gave to News of the World.

"Daniel and I are distant from her now. We don't text or talk to her when we are not filming," Grint said.

Watson has played Hermione in five of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter movies, with the latest, The Order of the Phoenix, expected to hit theaters this summer. The final two movies of the series, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, have not yet been filmed.

The final Harry Potter book will be released on July 21st of 2007. More copies have been printed than any other first-run book in history, due to the book series' incredible popularity with both children and adults. J.K. Rowling has repeatedly stated that Deathly Hallows will be her final Potter book, and that only seven movies (one for each book) will be developed for the series.

While Watson, true to her word, has not signed on for the final Potter films, Warner Brothers producers still fully expect her to. The actress stands to make about two million pounds to finish out her character's run. If necessary, Warner Brothers are likely to increase the pay in order to keep Watson with the series, as casting another actress in the role could weaken the Harry Potter franchise significantly; not only is the actress's face on nearly every poster, but Watson has garnered the most off-set press other than Daniel Radcliffe of any actor in the series.

The Harry Potter series has switched one major actor before as Michael Gambdon took over the role of Professor Albus Dumbledore following the death of Richard Harris. But Dumbledore was not as frequent a character as Hermione Granger, and the Watson's absence would be felt much harder.

The most recent Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, grossed $892,213,036 at the box office and cost about $150,000,000 to make.