I can’t believe this one was actually in question for a while… but it was. For a period of time is looked like the producers of the Harry Potter films weren’t going to bring back Gary Oldman for the role of Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. But today a deal got done, and Oldman will indeed be back in Black.
The good folks over at Dark Horizons had this to say:
The news ends months-long confusion and speculation about the role as Warners has remained surprisingly quiet on the whole issue of Oldman returning to the role despite very vocal and public commentary from fans to Oldman’s manager himself.
“I’m so relieved and happy. I can’t put my mind in the place of the producers, but I would’ve thought that when they read the book, a call to us would’ve been very high on their list. Obviously, the character of Sirius Black is key”
Personally I haven’t read the book, so I can comment on how big of a role Sirius is supposed to have in the story.. .but when you’ve got an actor of the calibre of Gary Oldman on your project… YOU KEEP HIM. I’m shocked this deal wasn’t done months ago to lock him up. They’re lucky he didn’t just decide to walk away from it.