'Harry Potter' director: 'Epilogue didn't work'

David Yates has admitted that he decided to reshoot the epilogue which will end the Harry Potter series because the original "didn't work".

Castmembers including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint returned to the series' home at Leavesden to film the scenes for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two again late last year.

The cast had originally shot the sequence, set 19 years in the future, on location in London's Kings Cross station.

"I didn't want older actors," Yates explained to Entertainment Weekly. "If you spent seven movies with these kids, you know these kids, and you want to end with them."

Of the original version, he said: "We ended up with a scene that, for all sorts of reasons, not just the make-up, just didn't work. We came up with a very simple solution - simple make-up, which may be enhanced slightly with special effects - that's really charming."

However, the reshot sequence led to a slight cut being made. Producer David Heyman revealed: "We thought about a nostalgic look back at how the kids have grown over the previous films. We decided against it because the ending captures all of that."

It was previously claimed that Warner Bros were unhappy with the reshoots due to the cost of recreating Kings Cross at the set.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two will open in cinemas in the UK and USA on July 15.

Watch a first-look at the final Harry Potter film below: