Alan Rickman Brought Kids ‘From the Hospital’ to the ‘Harry Potter’ Set, Says Co-Star Gary Oldman: ‘He Knew How Much It Meant’

While Alan Rickman’s legendary “Harry Potter” character, Severus Snape, may have been notoriously hard on the children at Hogwarts, in real life, the actor couldn’t have been more different from the pupil-hating professor. 

In fact, Rickman would “bring in kids every single day” to the film’s sets, said Gary Oldman, who played Sirius Black in the “Harry Potter” films, at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival on Thursday. 

“He would bring them in from a school, he’d bring them in from the hospital, he’d bring friends and their kids in every single day for lunchtimes and things,” Oldman said. “He’d take kids around to tour the sets, and we’d meet them.”

Oldman noted that Rickman believed it was “the most extraordinary thing, that he was in this world that he got to be in, come in every day, and that he knew how much it meant to these kids. So, he wanted to share it.” He continued to call him “the cheerleader of it”: “He was into it, he was doing it, so he was with it and committed to it,” he said. 

In a recent interview with EW, the “Darkest Hour” actor also shared that he believes HBO’s forthcoming TV adaptation of the original subject material will be even “more satisfying,” since more of the wizarding world will be able to be covered. 

“We had to cut a lot [for the ‘Harry Potter’ movies], and still we could only get the films down to, like, three hours,” Oldman told the outlet. “I believe [the HBO series is] gonna do it pretty much word-for-word.” 

Rickman died on Jan. 14, 2016, following a battle with cancer. The actor starred in films including “Die Hard” and “Truly Madly Deeply,” as well as portraying Snape in all the “Harry Potter” films.