Harry Potter star admits they ‘detest’ one of their character’s most iconic lines-Sabrina Barr-Entertainment – Metro

Neville was a fan-favourite character from the start (Picture: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc)

Harry Potter star Matthew Lewis has revealed the famous line said by his character that he absolutely ‘detests’… and it might take fans by surprise.

In 2001, the actor introduced the world to his depiction of Neville Longbottom in the first instalment of the movie franchise, instantly conveying the young wizard’s endearing and good-hearted nature.

In the years that followed, Matthew has gone on to star in productions including Bluestone 42, Death In Paradise and Me Before You, as well as the second season of Romesh Ranganathan’s BBC comedy series Avoidance.

During a recent conversation with Metro.co.uk, the 34-year-old took a look back at his time in Potter, revealing that he currently has no desire to rewatch the films as he is ‘very hyper critical’ of himself.

More than a decade since the final instalment was released, fans continue to mention their favourite Neville quotes to Matthew when they see him in person.

‘“Why is it always me?” was always a popular one with Neville, because I guess that sums up his character a little bit,’ he said, in reference to the line said by the Gryffindor student in the second movie, The Chamber of Secrets.

Matthew also starred in BBC comedy Avoidance as Brett, a love rival to Romesh Ranganathan’s Jonathan (Picture: BBC)

‘Recently, I’ve noticed a lot of love for the, “Oh my god, I’ve killed Harry Potter!” line, which I detest,’ he stated, bringing up the line from the fourth film, The Goblet of Fire.

‘I really hate that line. I don’t hate it because of its writing. I mean, it’s funny. I thought my delivery was… I just didn’t commit to it.’

Matthew emphasised how with acting, regardless of the genre, ‘commitment’ to the line is of the utmost importance.

‘It’s really quite simple. It’s about “Do you believe it when you say it?” because no one else is going to believe it if you don’t,’ he outlined.

‘I never believed that line when I said it, and every time I said it, it sounded ugly and I hated it. I’m absolutely astonished that people resonate with it for some reason, they all find it funny. If I ever heard it, I think my head would explode. I haven’t seen the films since they came out and stuff like that is why.’

It was recently confirmed that a TV reboot of Harry Potter is in the works at HBO Max. So would Matthew ever consider returning to the wizarding world, whether as Neville or in another capacity?

‘The truth is that you obviously never say never, you would never say no to such a thing. It was 10 years of my life. The opportunities that I have today, the very fact that I’m doing Avoidance on BBC One, it’s all come off the back of that. It’d be mad to suggest otherwise,’ he responded.

‘But that said, it very much feels to me at least, like a chapter of my life that is over. I was content to finish – by their own admission, some of the others possibly weren’t.

‘I felt very ready to finish – 10 years was enough for me. I was fortunate enough that my character got what I consider a complete arc. I got to tell his story and finish his story. I got the closure.’

He added that after a decade on Potter, he was ‘ready to do something different’, and he doesn’t currently have an ‘urge’ to return – but if the opportunity arose on the TV reboot, ‘of course I’d look at it’.

Speaking of the exciting projects that Matthew embarked on once Harry Potter was over, Avoidance is one of them, with the actor starring as love rival Brett opposite Romesh’s Jonathan.

Brett certainly brings a massive shake-up to Claire’s life in Avoidance (Picture: BBC)

After Jonathan turned down the chance to get back together with his ex Claire (Jessica Knappett) in season one, Brett has now bounded into Claire’s life, right as the protagonist begins to regret his decision.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk from Florida – revealing that he was on ‘tornado watch’ and accompanied by his two dogs Luke and Nelly while his wife was away – Matthew explained that living in the US means that he often misses a lot of content released by the BBC.

Seeing trailers for Avoidance and finding out that Romesh and Jessica were both involved immediately sparked his interest, in addition to producer Michelle Farr, who he previously worked with on Bluestone 42.

Despite clearly boasting a comedic streak in our eyes, Matthew explained that comedy is ‘not something that is a natural inclination’ to him, which is why he had some worries about the role.

‘It’s probably my only worry about this show, because I think it’s really funny. It read really funny. It performed really funny. My only worry is that we had so much fun, like you got to come into work and make each other laugh for like eight, 10 hours a day,’ he recalled.

‘Rom was making me laugh and I think if he wasn’t fake laughing, I was making him laugh. You just hope that that translates to the audience. I hope it doesn’t look like a lot of actors having too much fun. I hope that people will find it as funny as we did.’

Looking ahead to the future, Matthew pointed out that despite ‘not trying’ to keep returning to the genre, comedy ‘is something that I seem to keep falling into’.

Matthew attended MegaCon in Orlando, Florida in February this year (Picture: Gerardo Mora/Getty Images)

‘I do tend to really enjoy it when I’m doing it. It’s just the existential dread immediately before and immediately after that is less pleasant. But it’s not something that I’d be against carrying on with, with the right people as well. It’s so crucial. It’s so important, when you do find the right people and it clicks,’ he said.

‘Truth be told, this industry is insane,’ he continued. ‘I’ve been in it for 30 years now, which makes me feel sick to say but it’s true. And inexplicably I’m still in it. I’m still surviving.’

Bringing it back full circle to his Potter days, Matthew stressed that playing Neville put him in the ‘fortunate position’ that he can ‘very much choose to do things as and when’.

‘Avoidance was one of those, that for me, I thought it was worth telling, and I certainly was going to enjoy doing it. I just hope that people at home enjoy it as much as we did because we had a really good time.’

Avoidance is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

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