Key Points
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Actress Emma Watson made a rare public appearance at a forum for the Royal Foundation’s United for Wildlife.
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The 36-year-old largely retreated from Hollywood following what was, to date, her last film role in 2019’s Little Women.
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Benedict Cumberbatch and Prince William were also in attendance at the June 22 event.
Harry Potter and Beauty and the Beast actress Emma Watson has made a rare public appearance seven years after what is, to date, her last film role, in 2019’s Little Women.
The 36-year-old joined actor Benedict Cumberbatch, British royal Prince William, and host June Sarpong Monday in London, where they joined forces for the Royal Foundation’s United for Wildlife event.
Prince William shared video footage from the event to the United for Wildlife Instagram page, which showed him speaking on stage at a panel presentation that also involved Watson.
Prince William, Benedict Cumberbatch, June Sarpong, and Watson in London
Credit: Kirsty Wigglesworth/Getty
Watson additionally shared a video montage from the event, which showed her interacting with other attendees and speaking to the audience.
“Wildlife trafficking is the tip of a very exploitative iceberg,” Watson wrote in her own Instagram video (below). “It can be the canary in the coal-mine for an industry that does tremendous harm (but therefore has an opportunity to make tremendous impact) for both people and planet!”
The actress, who broke out after landing the role of Hermione Granger opposite Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint in the first big-screen adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s popular Harry Potter book series, has largely retreated from the Hollywood spotlight in recent years.
Though she hasn’t formally retired from acting, she last appeared in a major movie role in 2019’s Best Picture–nominated Little Women, directed by Greta Gerwig.
In a September 2025 interview with Hollywood Authentic, Watson looked back on her career and her distaste for specific aspects of working in the entertainment industry that extended beyond acting on screen.
“In some ways I really won the lottery [with acting], and what happened to me is so unusual,” she said at the time. “A bigger component than the actual job itself is the promotion and selling of that piece of work, this piece of art. The balance of that can get quite thrown off. I think I’ll be honest and straight-forward, and say: I do not miss selling things. I found that to be quite soul-destroying.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Watson said she “profoundly” misses “using my skill-set” as an actress. She briefly returned in front of a camera in 2022 HBO Max’s Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts special alongside her fellow franchise stars — while Watson and other actors from the series have additionally expressed disagreement with Rowling’s controversial anti-trans rhetoric in recent years.
In addition to her appearance at the United for Wildlife event, Watson has worked on other philanthropic and activist endeavors.
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She was previously appointed as a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador in July 2014, launching the organization’s UN Women campaign called HeForShe.
Watch footage of Watson’s appearance at the event in her Instagram video above.
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