Matthew Lewis (Neville) sometimes “frustrated” by Harry Potter past

The Harry Potter movies ran from 2001 all the way to 2011, and since its conclusion the franchise has only continued to grow and expand. There are even murmurings of a Harry Potter TV series on the horizon. While it’s amazing for fans to see the pop culture phenomenon live on,  it can occasionally be “frustrating” for actors like Mathew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) to shake off the association.

Lewis played Neville in all eight movies. He was only 12 for the first one and in his twenties when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 rolled around. Speaking on the Inside of You podcast, the 31-year-old actor talked about how he sometimes feels like the role of Neville Longbottom is the only role he’s known for, despite having a successful career in the decade since Harry Potter ended.

"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; it’s on PBS, and like a lot of the headlines are, ‘He’s no longer Neville Longbottom anymore.’ It’s like, ‘I haven’t been that for 10 years.’ And I have done things that have been so wildly different."

On one hand, to be remembered and praised for so long is a testament to how well he portrayed his character in the Harry Potter movies. But Lewis also wants fans to understand that he’s moved on to other things outside the Wizarding World. “I’ve been in dramas that have won BAFTAs and done all of this kind of stuff. And I’m not bragging; it’s just like I’ve done all this stuff and like 10 years later it’s still like people are making the claim I’ve sort of jumped from Harry Potter into this and have completely ignored the journey it’s taken to get there.”

For instance, Lewis starred opposite Emilia Clarke in the 2016 romance Me Before You. He also plays Hugh Hulton in All Creatures Great and Small, a highly-rated PBS remake of the older series of the same name. That series has already been green-lit for a second season.

What did Matthew Lewis steal from the Harry Potter set? 

All that said, Lewis is still up for talking about his days on the Harry Potter set. He revealed what item he stole — or rather, was given to him by an anonymous source — after filming was done: his costume. You would have thought they would let him keep it as a souvenir, but apparently not. “I’ve got my entire costume from the final movie,” he revealed. “I won’t say who did it because they might be able to figure it out. But someone came into my dressing room at the end of the day, on the last day, and was like, ‘Do you want this?’ and I said, ‘Yes.’ They said, ‘Put it in your bag right now, and I will leave the room.’ And I said, ‘OK.’ So I guess I stole that.”

"So I’ve got that, which is cool because when you go to the museum, and they have the one there and they say, ‘Oh, that’s the one he wore in the film.’ I’m like, ‘No, it’s not because I’ve got it.’"

Don’t forget to check out All Creatures Great and Small season 2 when it premieres on PBS. Clearly, Lewis has many exciting projects to come, and I’m here for them.

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