Hollywood actor Tom Felton, who rose to fame after playing Draco Malfoy in the fantasy drama film series Harry Potter, believes nothing brings the world together more than J.K Rowling’s wizarding world, with its fandom relevant even now.
In a recent interview with the US media outlet Variety, the 37-year-old actor said he thought the Harry Potter fandom would fade over time but it did not. “I think we all thought that the fandom flame might be doused over the years, but clearly it’s not. The most exciting part is to do it live. It took nine months, more or less, to shoot a film, and this is all compact. This is all reimagined into a very loving, new type of story. And I get to be a dad, which is really fun,” he said.
Tom, set to reprise his role as Draco Malfoy in the Broadway adaptation of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, was questioned about J.K. Rowling's recent anti-trans comments potentially impacting the upcoming series. He responded briefly, stating, “Can't say it does.”
“The only thing I always remind myself is that I’ve been lucky enough to travel the world, here I am in New York, and I have not seen anything bring the world together more than ‘Potter’. And she’s responsible for that, so I’m incredibly grateful,” the actor said.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the highest-grossing non-musical play in the history of Broadway. It has sold more than 10 million tickets worldwide since its 2016 premiere in London. Productions of the play are currently running in London, New York, Hamburg and Tokyo.
After starring in the Harry Potter movies, Felton featured in the 2011 sci-fi movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes. He also made his West End theatre debut in a 2022 play, 2:22 A Ghost Story, shortly after attending the shoot for the documentary Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts. In the same year, he published a memoir of his time as a young actor in the Potter franchise. It was titled Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard.
Recently, HBO announced the cast of the golden trio for its upcoming Harry Potter reboot series. While Dominic McLaughlin will play the role of ‘The Boy Who Lived’, Arabella Stanton is set to feature as Harry’s geeky friend Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout as Harry’s red-haired bestie Ron Weasley.
