It seems like we’re going to have to wait till next year for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Not fair really, since it was supposed to have released sometime in November 2008, and will now go on to release in July 2009. That’s a pretty long wait considering that production was announced sometime in December 2007. And even longer, considering fans have been waiting ever since the first movie was released. By the way, when Warner Bros, made public the delay in August, they had scores of hate mail. One fan went so far as to say - he hopes “WB choke on their own saliva”. There’s also quite a few online petitions doing the rounds, one of which has gathered more than 45,000 signatories

The cast of the movie is pretty much the same. The terrific trio (as I like to call them) of Daniel, Rupert and Emma are still part of this movie. (Although there were rumors that Emma Watson had declined the sixth and seventh parts.) FYI, Emma Watson was just 9 when the first HP movie was made. What’s more, before this, she’d acted only in school plays.

There is a new character too. Jim Broadbent plays the new Potions teacher – Horace Slughorn. Quick Recall: He’s the one who played the role of Professor Kirke in Chronicles of Narnia. I think he does an adorable job of looking like an eccentric professor. Michael Gambon continues as Albus Dumbledore. (In the sixth part Albus Dumbledore is revealed to be homosexual, and when Michael Gambon was told of this, he took the characteristics a little ‘off-screen’ as well, indulging in some campy behavior off-sets.)

Jesse Cave is the new-comer who plays Lavender Brown, Ron’s love-interest. It seems she was selected out of 7000 girls who auditioned for the role. Alan Rickman’s playing Snape (as usual) but there’s an addition – young Snape played by Alec Hopkins. Tom Riddle will also be played by two characters. Many older characters expressed the desire to return, but according to Director Yates, there is only so much time in which the movie is to be shown. And if you’re wondering - Draco Malfoy’s the same and no, Naomi Campbell is not in the movie.

One of the actors Rob Knox was reportedly stabbed to death in May 2008. The actor played the role of Marcus Belby, a Ravenclaw student. Rob Knox was stabbed outside Metro Bar in Sidcup while intervening in a fight to save his younger brother.