Why we don't see Emma Watson in films anymore as actor makes rare public appearance

You don't see much of Emma Watson these days, though folks attending the NBA All Star Celebrity Game on Valentine's Day will have been able to spot her in attendance there.

ESPN's TikTok posted a video of her courtside chatting to musician Tucker Halpern.

It's a bit of a trip out for her as she's currently studying a Masters degree at Oxford University, but when you've had a prolific film career it's the sort of thing you can afford to take a trip for.

Speaking of which, while she's a very recognisable star it's been quite some time since we saw Watson on the big screen with her last movie role coming six years ago with Greta Gerwig's 2019 version of Little Women.

Speaking to the FT back in 2023 she explained that she'd stepped away from acting somewhat, though didn't plan to be done completely with performing.

"I wasn’t very happy, if I’m being honest," Watson said of her decision to move away from looking for regular acting work.

“I think I felt a bit caged. The thing I found really hard was that I had to go out and sell something that I really didn’t have very much control over.

"To stand in front of a film and have every journalist be able to say, ‘How does this align with your viewpoint?’ It was very difficult to have to be the face and the spokesperson for things where I didn’t get to be involved in the process.

"I was held accountable in a way that I began to find really frustrating, because I didn’t have a voice, I didn’t have a say.

"And I started to realise that I only wanted to stand in front of things where if someone was going to give me flak about it, I could say, in a way that didn’t make me hate myself, ‘Yes, I screwed up, it was my decision, I should have done better.’"

In the same interview Watson said she would 'absolutely' act again but was 'happy to sit and wait for the next right thing'.

She said: "I love what I do. It's finding a way to do it where I don't have to fracture myself into different faces and people.

"And I don't just want to switch into robot mode any more."

Watson seems to be intent on living her best life where she gets to study what she likes and wait for potential movie roles that she would really like to be part of.

It doesn't always go her way, like the time last year when her car got towed while she was in Stratford upon Avon to watch a performance of The Merchant of Venice.

Fortunately she was able to laugh it off and enjoyed the show, so all's well that ends well.