Matthew Lewis has spoken out against the “frustrating” reality of always being seen as a Harry Potter star.
Lewis – who portrayed Neville Longbottom throughout the eight-film franchise – explained that there have been long-lasting drawbacks to playing the character.
Speaking on a recent episode of actor Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You podcast, Lewis revealed that he becomes “frustrated” at the constant comparisons to his Harry Potter role.
“I still, to a degree, get a bit frustrated sometimes when people sort of say, ‘Oh he’s... ’. For example, I’m doing this show at the minute on PBS and like a lot of the headlines are, ‘He’s no longer Neville Longbottom anymore’, and it’s like, ‘I haven’t been that for 10 years,’” said the actor.
He added that he has “done things that have been so wildly different” in the time since.
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“I’ve been in dramas that have won BAFTAs and done all of this kind of stuff,” he said. “And I’m not bragging, it’s just like I’ve done all this stuff and like 10 years later people are making the claim I’ve sort of jumped from Harry Potter into this have completely ignored the journey it’s taken to get there.”
The 31-year-old clarified that he feels no ill will or frustration toward the series.
“It’s like you have that voice in your head that goes, ‘Hey, you know all that work you did for the past 10 years? No one f***ing saw it. No one cares. They still think this is the first job you’ve done since Harry Potter,’” he said.
Lewis last portrayed Longbottom in 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
Since then, the Leeds-born actor has made appearances on BBC dramas Bluestone 42 and Death in Paradise, as well as the ITV drama Girlfriends.
In 2020, Lewis took on a role in the Channel 5 reboot of All Creatures Great and Small, which has recently been renewed for a second season.
