20 Biggest Things The Harry Potter Movies Left Out

20. Peeves

In The Book

Peeves is a near constant presence from the first book onwards, terrorising students, adding comical relief and acting as a surprising cohort of both Dumbledore and the Weasley twins. While he was incredibly annoying (that was the point), he was also responsible for a couple of great moments, including his assistance in the Battle Of Hogwarts and his antagonism of Dolores Umbridge.

In The Film

Rik Mayall was cast and filmed some scenes, but the character was cut by Chris Columbus (the actor himself blamed the fact that whenever he "did a bit of acting" the child stars kept corpsing so it didn't work out). His role was simply never replaced in the films.

Was It A Positive Cut?

It's undeniable he would have been incredibly annoying in the film, but that's probably not why it's best Peeves stayed cut: the removal of his campaign against Umbridge arguably made her a better villain (certainly a more seemingly infallible one) and made the twins' attack on her even more effective. It's just a shame it had to come at the cost of Peeves' (temporarily) redemptive arc.