It’s been over 10 years since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -Part II wrapped. The then-child actors have grown up and transitioned into adult actors post Potter, but the fame that marked their early careers has stuck. As the franchise ages, lead Tom Felton has spoken out about how his Draco Malfoy fame has remained strong compared to what the Harry Potter cast actually expected to happen after the final movie wrapped.
Tom Felton’s been out and about for months now promoting his new book Beyond The Wand, which has featured some great behind-the-scenes stories about Alan Rickman and even dyeing his hair to look like a Malfoy. Speaking on Happy Sad Confused, the actor admitted that a decade may have passed but that his role in the Wizarding World “comes up every day.” That wasn’t something he or the rest of the cast had really anticipated happening.
It [Potter] comes up every day. I know when we finished filming there was a sadness, a real sense that not that Potter was going anywhere, but that the fandom and that the levels of sort of crazy fan exposure that we’d have would slowly start dwindling down over the years. We finished over 10 years ago. So to see even where it’s gone from there, the fact the stories and the films are being passed down from one generation to the next, no one saw that coming.
Since the original series ended, Warner Bros. commissioned Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and now a new streaming TV series for Max that will recast the original characters. There are theme park lands at Universal Hollywood and Universal Orlando with rides paying homage to the original cast. So the idea that the Harry Potter stars might have been worried about fan exposure dwindling might seem like a wild thought at this point.
But per Felton, at the time, the sense of sadness was very real. So, it's no surprise that years later he's still grateful for the support of the fans -- particularly given how his career has gone with the release of his Potter-centric book and his appearance at events like 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts. He doesn't take it for granted.
I get used to the new fandoms every day. But I am definitely in a lucky enough position to say, ‘I think it’s awesome.’
In fact, one might say these days that Tom Felton is the biggest champion of the Harry Potter fandom. He routinely posts for fans of the franchise on his social media.
He also frequently has birthday exchanges with onscreen dad Jason Isaacs, who played Lucious Malfoy. He appears at various Wizarding World events, drinking butterbeer and often meeting fans.
Likely in the months coming up, we'll get more Harry Potter anniversary content, but for now it's nice for the fans to know that Felton is grateful and he's not going anywhere anytime soon.
