How Harry Potter Star Daniel Radcliffe Quietly Joined The 30 Rock Universe
Daniel Radcliffe is about to step into another strange and wonderful fictional universe: the "30 Rock" universe.
The "Harry Potter" star will join Tracy Morgan in the new NBC comedy "The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins" (premiering Monday, Feb. 23 at 8 pm), with "30 Rock" writers Robert Carlock and Sam Means serving as co-creators and Tina Fey (who created and starred in "30 Rock") serving as an executive producer. But the connections aren't just behind the scenes.
"We just had a scene where they were pouring Donaghy Estates champagne," Carlock told Entertainment Weekly, referring to an infamously bad wine produced by Alec Baldwin's "30 Rock" character Jack Donaghy. "We asked our graphics and prop people to hunt that down, which they did immediately, so we had Donaghy in there... We are always trying to do those little things without breaking everything. But yeah, I'd like to think that 'The Girlie Show' is still on, and it should be on their TV."
Morgan's character "Reggie just happens to look a lot like Tracy Jordan," Means added with a laugh.
Radcliffe has worked with Fey before, too
Fans of Tina Fey's TV work may remember, though, that Radcliffe has already appeared in one of her previous shows. In 2020, Radcliffe co-starred in the Netflix interactive special "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend," which served as a wrap-up movie of sorts for "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" after it wrapped up a four-season run on the streamer a year earlier. (Fey and Carlock co-created "Kimmy Schmidt," with "30 Rock" alum Jane Krakowski co-starring as Jacqueline.)
In the special, Radcliffe played Prince Frederick, who was set to marry Kimmy in a grand wedding. But obstacles — like Jon Hamm's Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne — stood in their way, and viewers had to make choices along the way to help Kimmy get to her wedding, with their choices changing how the story played out.
"Kimmy Schmidt" made several references to "30 Rock" throughout its run as well (at one point, Kimmy binge-watched "Gals on the Town," a fictional "Sex and the City" rip-off that Jack Donaghy greenlit at NBC), and in the special, a prison guard was named Sandy Parcell — possibly a relative of Jack McBrayer's "30 Rock" character Kenneth Parcell.
That "Kimmy Schmidt" role led to Radcliffe working with Fey again on "Reggie Dinkins." Radcliffe has admitted in the past that he's a huge fan of "30 Rock"... and now he gets to be a part of it.