Harry Potter fans can now enter the Forbidden Forest – and meet Buckbeak and Aragog

The Harry Potter studio tour has a new attraction

Harry Potter fans are getting the chance to follow in the footsteps of their wizarding heroes and explore one of the key locations of the series.

The Forbidden Forest — where Harry took on Voldemort and Ron Weasley came face to face with a giant spider — was today unveiled as the latest attraction at the Harry Potter studio tour.

Visitors will be able to venture deep into the forest, filled with 19 enormous trees each with a diameter of over 12 feet, after a team of production and special effects experts, most of whom worked on the eight film adaptations of JK Rowling’s books, toiled for months to bring it to life.

Along the way, fans will encounter a bowing Buckbeak, the winged hippogriff that Hagrid kept hidden in the forest in the third instalment, and come face-to-face with Aragog, the huge spider in the second book and film.

In Harry’s shoes: Luna Lovegood actress Evanna Lynch Aragog in the Forbidden Forest
Nils Jorgensen/Rex Features

Evanna Lynch, 25, who played Luna Lovegood in the film series, opened the attraction in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, today. She said: “I did a scene in the forest but it was in the sunshine so it is so cool to be here and see it how it is supposed to be — dark and mysterious.”

James and Oliver Phelps, who played twins Fred and George Weasley, said: “When we get back here it always reminds us of how many hours and days we spent filming Harry Potter.

“It’s strange coming back to the studio and seeing things that we would play around with being an attraction. We are very impressed with how it looks. It’s so immersive and realistic. There are details now that we are seeing that we didn’t see when we were in it. It’s great.”

Harry Potter Forbidden Forest Warner Bros Studio Tour

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Set designer Stuart Craig was behind the attraction. As well as being production designer for all of the Harry Potter films, he designed the Platform 9 ¾ section of the studio tour, which houses the original Hogwarts Express train.

He said: “The Forbidden Forest appears in every one of the Harry Potter books and films and each time we did it, it was a challenge. We would vary the look — in other words as you go deeper into the forest, the more the look changed. What you see here is a version of the Forbidden Forest from deep within.”

Craig has been nominated for a Bafta award on 15 occasions, seven of which were for his work on the Harry Potter film series.

Multi award-winning special make-up effects artist Nick Dudman created all the creatures found in the Forbidden Forest.

Dudman told the Standard: “One of the biggest challenges was tracking down the original moulds that were used for Aragog and Buckbeak.”

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