May 5, 2023

Did Emma Watson Quit Acting?

If you’re wondering if Emma Watson has retired from movies, you’re not the only one.

The former child star, who rose to fame playing brainy, brave Hermione Granger in the beloved Harry Potter movies in the early 2000s, hasn’t graced our screens in a new film in four years now.

The actress starred in several acclaimed films following her time at Hogwarts, including 2012’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, 2013’s The Bling Ring and 2014’s Noah. Lately, though, she seems to be avoiding Hollywood like it’s a cursed Horcrux.

Read on to find out more about Emma Watson’s career changes and when you might see her on the big screen again.

Did Emma Watson Retire From Acting?

No, Emma Watson has not retired completely from acting. In April 2023, Watson told Financial Times why she decided to temporarily step away from Hollywood.

“I wasn’t very happy, if I’m being honest,” Watson said, revealing she “felt a bit caged” in the film industry.

“The thing I found really hard was that I had to go out and sell something that I really didn’t have very much control over. To stand in front of a film and have every journalist be able to say, ‘How does this align with your viewpoint?’ It was very difficult to have to be the face and the spokesperson for things where I didn’t get to be involved in the process,” the actress added.

In February 2021, The Daily Mail suggested that Watson had retired from acting. The rumor gained so much traction that Watson’s team was compelled to release a statement debunking the speculation.

“Emma’s social media accounts are dormant but her career isn’t,” Watson’s manager Jason Weinberg told Entertainment Weekly in a statement.

According to BuzzFeed, Watson herself addressed the retirement rumors in a rare post on her Twitter account just a few months after her manager’s statement.

“Rumors about whether I’m engaged or not, or whether my career is ‘dormant or not’ are ways to create clicks each time they are revealed to be true or untrue. If I have news, I promise I’ll share it with you,” she tweeted.

When Was Emma Watson Last Seen on Screen?

As of April 2023, Emma Watson’s last movie role was playing Meg March in Greta Gerwig’s 2019 big screen adaptation of Little Women.

Prior to that she appeared in the movie The Circle and as Belle in Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast film in 2017.

In 2022, Watson appeared as herself in the HBO Max Harry Potter 20th anniversary special Return to Hogwarts, where she joined former castmates to reflect on the making of the beloved films.

Where Is Emma Watson Now?

According to her interview with Financial Times, Emma Watson has been working on several projects off screen, including directing a music video for a male musician people have “definitely heard of” and directing a campaign for fashion house Prada. She and her brother Alex also recently launched their own gin brand called Renais.

Watson has also focused heavily on advocacy and activism work over the past few years.

In 2018, she co-founded Time’s Up U.K. and donated over $1 million to the organization. In 2019, she helped launch a legal helpline for victims of workplace sexual harassment. She has also been supportive toward transgender rights, environmental justice and anti-racism. In 2020, she supported the Black Lives Matter movement.

In 2021, she helped fund an eco-friendly startup company to develop sustainable alternatives to petrochemical products, which can be found in soaps, plastics and fertilizers. The same year she hosted a panel on climate change at the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.

Watson told Financial Times that she plans to return to acting in 2024.