Intro: Who Has Had the Best Life After Harry Potter?

Left to right: Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe

Hey everybody! It's Thomas.

With the recent news that J.K. Rowling is planning on expanding the Harry Potter universe by adapting the least adaptable book in her catalog: "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." Yes, while the story doesn't focus around the boy who lived or his friends necessarily, the story will follow an adventurer as he discovers the creatures in the glossary. While we both agree that the film needs to impress us before we place judgement, it got us thinking about another form of argument: who has the better career from the Harry Potter central cast?

It was a discussion that the two of us had as we tried to find ways to incorporate our thoughts to correlate with this new project. We were originally going to do novels versus cinema, but we were too close in opinions there. Through the process of elimination, we decided on a subject that has given itself time to form and thus would make for an interesting discussion. It almost seemed too simple, yet like apples and oranges, there is enough similarities and differences to make for some juicy analysis.

We are talking about which actor has the best career after surviving Harry Potter and the $1.15 billion franchise. With money like that, it theoretically doesn't matter, but we still posed the question that among the main cast, who is the most promising from the past two years? After the unfortunate cancellation of Rupert Grint, who has yet to set the world on fire, we decided to go between Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson.

It was a tough decision, but we each have come up with reasons supporting our claims. Mike chose Radcliffe, whose role as the titular Harry Potter has become iconic to a generation over the past 10 years. His work since has been mixed with stage (Equus) and film (The Woman in Black). Meanwhile, Emma Watson's role as bookworm Hermione Granger has lead to a career of staring in coming of age films and stunning audiences in The Perks of Being a Wallflower while also being one of the highest paid actresses of the modern era. 

It is too early for sure to determine if either will sink or swim, but both have put in an impressive amount of work to surviving. So please, feel free to check out each of our thoughts as well as provide your own feedback and vote in our poll for who you think will have the stronger career.

Who do you think has a better career after Harry Potter?