Harry Potter screenwriter Steve Kloves says he created a character for The Philosopher's Stone that was scrapped

'My version of the first movie was quite different'

Harry Potter could have been very (slightly) different if screenwriter Steve Kloves had been able to include a character of his own making, and he probably wouldn't have got on as well with arachnophobe Ron Weasley.

Mr Kloves, who penned all of the Potter films except one (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), gave a recent interview where he revealed the creation, a spider in the cupboard under the stairs named Alastair, never made it into the film.

Speaking to io9, he explained his idea of Harry befriending called Alastair.

"My version of the first movie was quite different in terms of how you first perceived him [Harry]," he said.

While JK Rowling did mention spiders in Harry’s “room” in the house on Privet Drive, none of them were individual characters.

"There was a spider [in the cupboard],” Mr Kloves said, “and all these broken soldiers that he had filched from the rubbish bin of Dudley’s [bedroom]. And he had this broken army and he would talk to Alastair."

Sadly Alastair was not to be, so we’ll never know if Harry would have been able to kill Voldemort by page 10 if he and the spider were friends.