The Harry Potter Reunion: Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts came out on New Year’s this year exclusively on HBO MAX. The two-hour documentary followed the making of the first Harry Potter film: Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone.
To celebrate 20 years of the beloved franchise, Warner Bros. decided to release a special dedicated to the fandom, but if you live in Canada, you might wonder where you can find this special release.
This guide will tell you exactly where and exactly how you can indulge in the Potterhead film.
HBO MAX
Charles Dolan founded HBO in 1972 as a premium cable channel with content not typically depicted on regular cable. When it launched, it was a free service that showed television content as well as movies. A few years after its origination, the service started charging users for subscriptions to the channel.
In response to growing programming selection and the surge of new channels, and subscription options, HBO GO came out in 2010 for users to watch HBO content on the go for a monthly fee. Instead of paying for a cable subscription and the HBO channel, interested users could find everything they wanted with a monthly fee just for HBO.
Eventually, Warner Media took over and decided to enhance the service with HBO MAX, an app that hosts content from HBO, Warner Bros., blockbuster movies, Studio Ghibli, and Looney Tunes, among other popular titles.
Today, HBO MAX is an American over-the-top subscription service that provides subscribers access to most Warner Bros. content, and since Harry Potter falls under Warner Bros. property, you can find the reunion as well as all other eight Harry Potter films as of September 21, 2021.
The Harry Potter special was released exclusively on HBO MAX, but since HBO MAX only operates in the US, if you live anywhere else, let’s say Canada, you will need a VPN to access the Harry Potter reunion.
You’ll Need a VPN
VPNs or Virtual Private Networks hide mask IP addresses and protect online identities while you consume entertainment. One of the best parts about VPNs is their ability to allow you to watch content from other parts of the world.
Since the VPN hides your IP address, the streaming service cannot pinpoint a location and therefore allows you to watch programs like the Harry Potter reunion while in Canada.
Here are a few VPN options to use while watching the Harry Potter reunion.
Surfshark
Vytautas Kaziukonis founded this VPN in the Netherlands in 2018. It guards all of your sensitive digital information with data leak detection and prevention. It also has dedicated technology permitting private searches and it masks your identity allowing you to watch the Harry Potter reunion from any part of Canada on HBO MAX.
Surfshark works with a super high-speed connection of 2×10 gigabits per second, so it won’t buffer or lag as much as other VPNs that run at slower speeds. Surfshark has a monthly, yearly, or two-year contract for its users and uses more than 3,000 servers for its customers to pick between. It works well with HBO MAX.
Surfshark offers a few plans to start:
- For a one-month purchase, you pay a monthly fee of $12.95
- For a one-year subscription, you pay $3.99 a month for 12 months
- For a two-year subscription, you pay $2.49 a month for 24 months
Try Surfshark RISK-FREE for 30 days!
Express VPN
Offer: Get 12 + 3 months free!
This VPN originated in the British Virgin Islands in 2009 when Peter Burchhardt and Dan Pomerantz founded the service. It gives its users data encryption services and device protection on phones, tablets, computers, and Smart TVs.
Express VPN uses high-speed connections of 135 megabits per second. Users can also find download speeds for content at 475 megabits per second.
This service operates quicker than Surfshark, with even less buffering and lagging, which is great considering Surfshark provides speedy service as well. Express VPN is not the fastest VPN server today, but it is a great choice to use with HBO MAX.
Payment options include:
- For a one-month subscription, pay $12.95 for service
- For a six-month subscription, pay $9.99 per month for service
- For a one-year subscription, pay $8.32 per month for service
It is a bit pricey compared to Surfshark and other VPN choices, but it is well worth the price. Included in the package, you receive high-speed connections, enhanced security measures, and identity protection. If you absolutely despise the service, Express VPN offers its users a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Try ExpressVPN RISK-FREE for 30 days!
CyberGhost VPN
Robert Knapp founded this VPN in 2011 in Romania. It is considered to be the best VPN by many rankers. It allows users to connect seven devices to the VPN and promises lightning-quick connections.
It also uses an Open VPN and a WireGuard for extreme security measures, plus its no-log policy makes sure the device used doesn’t track any sensitive information. It also prevents hackers from obtaining any material, such as credit card information or data breaching.
CyberGhost provides users with a one-week free trial and a 14-day money-back guarantee if they are not satisfied with the service. If you sign up for CyberGhost, you receive a one-week free trial without inputting any payment information.
This is the only VPN to do this so far, making CyberGhost stand out among other VPN options. Plus, it has download speeds averaging 548 Megabits per second.
CyberGhost offers a few subscription plans:
- For a one-month subscription, pay $12.99 for service
- For a one-year subscription, pay $4.29 per month for service
- For a two-year subscription, pay $3.25 per month for service
- For a three-year subscription, pay $2.29 per month for service with three months of free service
How to Watch Harry Potter Reunion on HBO MAX with a VPN
- After researching which VPN is most compatible with your device, you’ll need to download that app to your device.
- Visit the app store on said device and install the app that will provide you with the best Harry Potter reunion viewing experience.
- Sign up for a plan.
- Create an account and use your login credentials to log in.
- Once you’ve logged in to the VPN, you will need to set your location to the US to be able to access HBO MAX. When you connect to the US, the VPN will provide you with a temporary IP address assigned to the US.
- Close out the VPN app and download the HBO MAX app. It is bright purple with white font spelling out HBO MAX.
- Install HBO MAX.
- Once it loads, sign in to your account or sign up for an account.
– Plans start at $9.99 a month for ads or $99.99 a year.
– If you want a plan with no ads, you’ll pay $14.99 a month or $104.99 a year upfront. - Once you’ve logged into your account, find the search bar in the top left corner of the home screen and type in Harry Potter reunion.
- Click on the title and enjoy the 20th-anniversary special!
- Crave
The other method to watch the Harry Potter reunion is through Crave. Crave is an over-the-top Canadian subscription service belonging to Bell Media. It was founded in 2014 by Bell Media and allows users to watch content pulled from channels such as HBO, Showtime, Warner Bros.
Content, MTV, Paramount, and Comedy Central. Since Warner Bros. and HBO own Harry Potter or have contracts to show Harry Potter media. Crave is another destination for the Harry Potter reunion.
There are a few options you have when investing in a Crave subscription. You can choose between Crave Mobile or Crave Total. Here is a breakdown of the differences.
Crave Mobile: Perfect for users who stick to watching content solely on their phone or mobile devices. It only streams in SD quality, but if you are on a phone, you won’t notice much of a difference. You will still watch the Harry Potter reunion in clear, quality resolution.
You have access to everything on the Crave server but cannot watch on more than one device at a time, and you won’t be able to download the Harry Potter reunion to watch when you are offline.
You also can only watch the Harry Potter special on your phone as the mobile plan does not allow you to cast to TV or any other device. But, if this sounds like the perfect plan for you, it is $9.99 a month to get this plan.
Crave Total: This subscription plan is perfect for families or friends who share accounts. You have access to the entire Crave catalog and can cast content to your TV or other devices to watch the Harry Potter reunion. Plus, you can watch content in HD resolution as opposed to the SD quality of the mobile subscription.
You also get live channel coverage, and you can download the Harry Potter special to watch at a later time when you do not have internet. This plan is $19.99 a month for subscribers.
How to Watch the Harry Potter Reunion with Crave
- Once you’ve decided Crave is the correct subscription for you, visit the app store and download the app. The app icon is dark blue with a light blue C sitting in the middle of the screen. Click on this app and download and launch it.
- Input your login credentials or create an account. Log in.
- Once you’ve logged in, click the magnifying glass or search bar in the top right corner and type in Harry Potter reunion.
- Click search, and the thumbnail for the special will pop up. The thumbnail has Ron, Hermoine, and Harry, or Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, and Daniel Radcliffe all sitting around a coffee table, smiling. This is the correct program.
- At the bottom of the screen, a blue button says, Start Watching Now. Click that button, and you should be redirected to the program.
- Enjoy! If you’re feeling up to a Harry Potter marathon after you watch the reunion, all of the films can be found on Crave as well as HBO MAX.
- Since Crave is hosted in Canada, if you speak French, you can watch the special in French or English!
Watch The Harry Potter Reunion Today
The Harry Potter reunion came out ten months ago, and it features Robbie Coltrane’s final on-screen appearance before his death in October of this year. Whether you’re looking to celebrate his life or reminisce on the creation of these, if you live in Canada, you can watch this program on HBO MAX or Crave Canada. Enjoy!