Jason Segel Returns To The Wizarding World Every Year | Sorry Not Sorry
Like a lot of us, Jason Segel loves Harry Potter. But thanks to overly judgmental people, he's categorized his love for the Wizarding World as a guilty pleasure. Speaking to JustWatch while promoting the 2026 action-comedy thriller Over Your Dead Body, the actor revealed his love for the story and why people might think it's odd that it's his favorite.
WATCH: Jason Segel Returns To The Wizarding World Every Year
"I mean, this is not a controversial take. It's just my age," Segal explained. "I still watch the Harry Potter series pretty much… I would say twice a year. I watch all of them." And as luck would have it, his Over Your Dead Body co-star, Samara Weaving, shared the sentiment. "I watch them every November," she said, to the approval of Segal. "Halloween through to Christmas," Weaving added.
Segal's logic is interesting because it points to this underlying expectation that once you reach a certain stage in adulthood, you're supposed to move on from the things you loved growing up. And if you don't, it somehow becomes something worth questioning. But that idea doesn't really make sense, because for a lot of people, Harry Potter was a whole experience.
Fans followed each release (the books and movies) from childhood into their teenage years, waiting to see how everything would play out. By the time Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows hit book stores in 2007, that same audience had grown up alongside the characters. And we all waited patiently to see the story's finale adapted into movie form.
The Problem With Thinking You Should Outgrow Certain Stories
So, when Segel says he still goes back to those films regularly, it's not really that surprising. If anything, it's pretty normal. Getting older doesn't mean you suddenly have to drop everything you liked growing up. That's not how interests work. People don't hit a certain age and decide they no longer enjoy the music, hobbies, or stories they connected with earlier in life.
Things change, sure, but they don't just disappear. If anything, the stuff you loved growing up tends to become more important because it's tied to specific memories. For most of us, Harry Potter reminds us of how we stayed up all night to finish the newest book and headed to the cinema on release day to watch that story come to life on screen.
The entire Harry Potter experience was about being part of something that felt bigger than just a single story. And it's not like the series is shallow either. The premise of an orphaned boy discovering that he is a wizard gets more complex as it goes on. Alongside the tried and tested good vs. evil trope, the story eventually focuses on political systems, moral grey areas, grief, and long-term trauma.
Those aren't themes you grow out of. If anything, you actually understand them better when you're older. There's also a bit of a double standard that exists. Adults can be invested in a sports team for years, and no one bats an eye. But when your interests skew toward fantasy stories or video games, you're supposed to leave those behind. However, stories don't lose value just because you're older.
Why To Watch 'Harry Potter' (And What To Watch After)
The Harry Potter films are easy to underestimate until you actually sit down and watch them. Starting with 2001's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, you get the purest version of the story. Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is introduced as a kid stepping into a world he doesn't understand, alongside Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson).
It's light and focuses on wonder more than consequences. By the time you reach some of the later movies, the series starts to feel more confident. Arguably the strongest entry in the entire story is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), where Harry and his friends start to understand what they're truly up against, leading up to both Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows installments in 2010 and 2011.
The Hunger Games (2012) is a great next step if you want something with a similar emotional arc. The story is set in a dystopian future where society is divided into districts controlled by a wealthy Capitol. Every year, each district is forced to send two tributes into a televised fight to the death known as the Hunger Games.
The story, which consists of four films, follows Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), a girl from District 12 who volunteers to take her younger sister's place in the games. Alongside her is Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), the other tribute from her district, whose relationship with Katniss becomes one of the central emotional threads of the entire movie.
