Tom Felton is the latest Harry Potter star to confirm that he’s been in touch with the new young actor inheriting his beloved role.
During an interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Felton was asked if he’s reached out to Lox Pratt, who was cast as Draco Malfoy last year. Felton said he’s “sent word” to the young actor.
The HBO adaptation, which is set to adapt each of J.K. Rowling’s books into their own respective seasons, is a “very different” beast than what Felton signed up for, so he said it was “really important” to him that he reach out to 14-year-old Pratt.
“We were entering things that don’t exist. There’s quite a lot of weight now,” Felton, who was just 13 when he filmed the first Harry Potter film, said. “So the last thing I’m gonna do is offer anything other than say, ‘Here’s my phone number. Here’s my address.’ To his parents, as well as him — and to anyone else there.”
Felton, 38, said he “can’t offer [any] advice” to the new cast members, because this is their “journey” to go on. He did offer a few suggestions, though: “Have as much fun as possible, take as many pictures as you can, steal as many props as you can — they’ll be worth a fortune.”
While he said he’s “happily taking a step back,” he made it clear to Pratt that he’s available. “If you do need a word of encouragement or [have] questions to ask, I’m there.”
Both Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint have similarly shared that they’ve been in touch with the young actors taking over their roles.
On Good Morning America in November, Radcliffe said that he wrote a letter to Dominic McLaughlin, who then “sent me a very sweet note back.”
“I just wanted to write to him to say, ‘I hope you have the best time, and an even better time than I did — I had a great time, but I hope you have an even better time,’ ” Radcliffe, 36, said. “And I do, I just see these pictures of him and the other kids, and I just want to hug them.”
McLaughlin said it was “insane” to hear from the original Harry Potter star. “My dad just tapped me on the train, and he just gave me this letter. I read it, and then I got to the bottom, and it said, ‘Dan R.’ I was going mad, but I had to keep it [cool]. I was on the train,” McLaughlin, 11, shared on the U.K.’s CBBC show Saturday Mash-Up! Live, per a clip shared on Reddit.
Grint, 37, told BBC News that he also wrote a letter “passing the baton” to Alastair Stout, who will play Ron Weasley in the new series.
“I’m really intrigued [about] what it’s going to be like. It’s quite strange, having it — the cycle happen again,” Grint said. “I had so much fun stepping into this world, and I hope he has the same experience.”
The new Harry Potter series is slated to debut Christmas 2026 on HBO.
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