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I thought that phrase was quite common, so I was shocked to find very few Google results.
Maybe the phrase is written wrongly? Or it should be phrased in another way?
Here's an example sentence with a subtle variation:
Despite their popularity, Mary had never been interested in the Harry Potter movies in the past. Neither now.
Neither now is not idiomatic.
Despite their popularity, Mary had never been interested in the Harry Potter movies in the past. Not then, and not now.
Most of the time, neither and nor work alongside each other:
It was a case of neither feast nor famine.
She had seen neither hide nor hair of him since last week.
There are times when you can use neither without nor. There are also times when you can use nor without neither. And both can be used on their own incorrectly.
"Do you want to cook dinner or go out?"
"✔ Neither. I want to order in."
"✘ Nor. I want to order in."✔ If neither option works for you, we will have to find another.
✘ If nor option works for you, we will have to find another.✔ Life is never cheap, nor unimportant.
✘ Life is never cheap, neither unimportant.✔ They were a strange pair. She could not hear, nor could he see.
✘ They were a strange pair. She could not hear, neither could he see.
Your sentence is one in which neither or nor could work, but only with some modifications:
✔ Despite their popularity, Mary had never been interested in the Harry Potter movies in the past. Neither then nor now.
✔ Despite their popularity, Mary had neither past nor present interest in the Harry Potter movies.
✔ Despite their popularity, Mary had never been interested in the Harry Potter movies in the past. Nor was she now.
But note this interesting phenomenon:
"I don't like it."
✔ "Neither do I."
✔ "Nor do I."
By all rights, the only correct response should be nor do I:
✔ You don't like it, nor do I.
✘ You don't like it, neither do I.
However, idiomatically, people say neither do I all the time. It's become such a common response that's it's just as acceptable as nor do I.
Because we are used to this simple response, it might be considered acceptable (and it would certainly be understood) if the following were used:
❔ Despite their popularity, Mary had never been interested in the Harry Potter movies in the past. Neither was she now.
This is also the reason that some people might find the use of neither in the earlier they were a strange pair example to sound okay.
