The moviemaker, who directed the first three films based on the magical books by J.K. Rowling, is fascinated by the fates of the lead characters, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, played by Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, respectively.

The last scene in the final movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two, shows a snippet of the trio's future, 19 years after they leave school.

Now Columbus has revealed he would like to delve deeper into the gap between the end of their school stories and the movie epilogue, to find out what happened in the intervening years.

He tells Entertainment Weekly, "I would love to go back and do another one. I would love to do another movie with those three characters - Harry, Hermione and Ron. I'm just fascinated about what happened to them after the end of the last movie because then they cut to 18 years ahead (sic). There's 18 years there of great Harry Potter stories."