Who Are The Marauders In Harry Potter? The Cut Movie Storyline, Explained

A lot of stuff got left on the cutting room floor when Warner Bros. started adapting the "Harry Potter" books into blockbuster movies, the first of which, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (or "Philosopher's Stone" if you don't live in the United States), hit theaters in November 2001. This was followed by the release of "Chamber of Secrets" in 2002, and when the third novel, "Prisoner of Azkaban," was adapted two years later, fans of the books were probably excited to learn a little more about the backstory of Harry's (played by Daniel Radcliffe in the films) father, James Potter (played by Adrian Rawlins as an adult in the films), whose death, along with that of his wife and Harry's mother Lily (played by Geraldine Somerville as an adult in the films), sets Harry's story in motion before the narrative even begins. Those fans would have been bitterly disappointed, though!

In the book version of "Prisoner of Azkaban," the legend of what James and his friends did during their time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry not only ties directly to the story's main throughline — namely, the mystery of convicted murderer Sirius Black (played by Gary Oldman as an adult in the films) and his apparent hunt for Harry — but it also explains one of the series' most important magical artifacts and comes back in the fifth movie, "Order of the Phoenix." Here's what you need to know about the Marauders and their helpful map, because the "Prisoner of Azkaban" movie never bothers to explain it at all.

James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew — the last two of whom are played by David Thewlis and Timothy Spall as adults in the "Harry Potter" films — all become friends during their time at Hogwarts and are basically inseparable, especially thanks to the fact that they all end up in Gryffindor together. There's one problem: Remus is a werewolf and has been since he was bitten as a young boy. So, in order to attend Hogwarts in the first place, the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon after the first two films, replacing the late Richard Harris), comes up with a solution wherein Remus sneaks into an abandoned Hogsmeade building called the Shrieking Shack during his monthly transformations. (Hogsmeade villagers believe the building is haunted due to Remus' screams, which keeps them safely away.)

Remus, as the older version of the character tells Harry in the books, assumed his friends would abandon him when they learned the truth, but instead they did something incredible: they all became Animagi in secret, meaning they could transform into animals at will. Despite the fact that this is both illegal and extremely advanced magic, they managed to pull it off; James became a stag, Sirius a dog, and Peter a rat. (That last one's a hint for later.) They also created the "Marauder's Map," a magical item that eventually comes into Harry's possession and acts as a real-time, interactive map of Hogwarts that's signed with their code names: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. Again, the map is introduced in "Prisoner of Azkaban," but the movie never bothers to mention that Harry's father created it.

There's also a dark side to the Marauders, as Harry discovers when he sneaks into a Pensieve belonging to his Potions professor and the Marauders' classmate Severus Snape (played by Alan Rickman as an adult in the films). As teenagers, James and Sirius severely bullied a young Snape while Remus passively watched and Peter cheered them on; this explains Snape's deep hatred of Harry and gives Harry a very different picture of his beloved father. This scene is included in the fifth movie, "Order of the Phoenix," despite the fact that, if you haven't read the books, you wouldn't understand the importance of this group.

That's not to say that the friendship between James, Sirius, Remus, and Lupin isn't explored in the film version of "Prisoner of Azkaban" — it is! It's just not fleshed out at all. Throughout "Prisoner of Azkaban," Harry believes that Sirius Black, who has escaped from the wizarding prison Azkaban and is on the run, is hunting him down to kill him after years of imprisonment, but the truth is that Sirius is hunting somebody else. As it turns out, Peter Pettigrew, not Sirius, was secretly working with Voldemort (played by Ralph Fiennes as an adult in the films) years prior and betrayed Harry's parents; Peter then murdered over one dozen people with a single curse, transformed into a rat, and vanished, leaving a finger behind to frame Sirius. That's why Sirius escaped Azkaban — so that he could finally get revenge on Peter, who also happens to be known as "Scabbers" ... a pet rat belonging to Harry's best friend Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint).

At the end of "Prisoner of Azkaban," Harry, Ron, Hermione (Emma Watson), Scabbers the rat, Sirius, and Remus all end up in the Shrieking Shack to get to the bottom of everything, at which point Peter is forced into revealing his true identity (horrifying everybody). Again, this scene is in the movie, but none of the characters address the Marauder's Map (which is how Remus realized, after years, that Sirius wasn't a murderer and that Peter was at Hogwarts) or the fact that three of the guys in the room created it with Harry's dad. Honestly, it is unbelievable to me that this got left out of the finished film.

After "Prisoner of Azkaban," Harry uses the Marauder's Map all the time ... almost as much as his precious Invisibility Cloak. In fact, the two magical objects typically work in tandem to help Harry sneak around Hogwarts castle undetected. In the fourth book and movie, "Goblet of Fire," Harry tries to spy on Snape and ends up caught between the Potions master and that year's Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, played by Brendan Gleeson (even though I should note that this is not actually Mad-Eye; he's actually a Death Eater disguising himself with Polyjuice Potion). Honestly, the Marauder's Map might just be one of the best things Harry has in his arsenal; he always relies on it in a pinch, and even after he leaves Hogwarts in "Deathly Hallows" to take down Voldemort once and for all, he hangs onto the map just in case.

By constantly using the Marauder's Map, Harry carries on the legacy of his father James, godfather Sirius, and beloved mentor Remus. (I'm excluding Pettigrew here because that guy is a murderer and, perhaps even worse, a pathetic little twerp.) In any case, the movies absolutely shouldn't have cut this extremely important plot point, and it's beyond frustrating that they did. Hopefully, the upcoming "Harry Potter" TV series — which may or may not be doomed from the start — will remember this incredibly important plotline about the Marauders. 

The "Harry Potter" movies are currently streaming on Peacock.