With Warner Bros. and HBO tackling Harry Potter with a rebooted prestige television series, concerns have been raised once more about the child actors at the center of this new take on the material.
Many are, understandably, worried for the well-being of the young actors, including former Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner. Turner was famously only 14 years old when she began her stint in Westeros, and the star now has some advice for the up-and-coming young stars of the new Harry Potter series.
Sophie Turner talks child fame, new Harry Potter series
Speaking of how performing at such a young age in front of such a large audience during an interview with Flaunt, Turner said, “It had such a profound impact on my mental health, like more than I could tell you. It almost destroyed me on numerous occasions.”
The actress has been extremely outspoken about her struggles with mental health and developing an eating disorder during the filming of Game of Thrones. By sharing some of her valuable insights, hopefully she can help these young performers avoid suffering similar issues.
“One of the most important things to me in my life is talking about mental health: it’s vital,” the Trust actress stated. “I look at the kids who are about to be in the new Harry Potter and I just want to give them a hug and say, ‘Look, it’s going to be okay, but don’t go anywhere near social media. Stay friends with your home friends, keep living at home with your family, make sure your parents are your chaperones.’ It’s important to have that grounding adjacent to the big, crazy stuff that you do.”
When asked if she and ex-husband Joe Jonas’s children would be following in their footsteps and becoming young performers anytime soon, Turner replied, “Oh God, they’re not acting! Not until they’re at least twenty-five!”
Child actors have to walk an incredibly difficult line. Not only are they often judged far more harshly by the media at large for their actions both within the projects they work on, but also outside of them for the everyday lives they lead.
In addition to this, taking on a large role in a blockbuster franchise has a history of derailing children’s lives and can lead to problems down the road.
However, a highly notable exception to this tendency has been the former child actors of the Harry Potter film series. The main trio, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, have all led largely normal lives outside of the series and have had respectable careers after its conclusion.
While this is not to say the performers didn’t face their share of struggles (Radcliffe, especially, has been open about the issues such attention at an early age brought on), it is notable in the grand scheme of things just how well things played out for the trio.
The new Harry Potter series is expected to be released on HBO and HBO Max in 2027, with Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout, and Arabella Stanton stepping into the roles of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, respectively.