'Harry Potter' star Harry Melling on escaping the 'child-actor trap'

Harry Melling, remembered by millions as Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films, reflected on the complicated legacy of growing up inside one of the world’s biggest franchises.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 36‑year‑old actor admitted he never wanted to be “shackled” to Potter fame or be trapped in the child‑actor stereotype.

Melling shared, "It’s very contrary to what this industry wants you to be, and that for me is the biggest compliment someone could ever pay me." 

"I don’t want people to have an understanding of me prior to — I mean, obviously I kind of f---ed it up doing Harry Potter."

He added, "But I really don’t want people to have an understanding of who I am going into a movie. I want them just to see the character, which is maybe why it feels eclectic and you can’t pigeonhole it."

“I didn’t fall in love with being in Harry Potter,” Melling said.

“I fell in love with the concept of people being many things, and that’s what I wanted to spend my life doing.”

He explained that while the franchise gave him early visibility, he feared being pigeonholed.

"At 10, or whatever, there was so much more to do. In a weird way, I knew that getting trapped within the child-actor thing was not going to allow me to do the other things that I wanted to do. Now I do theater and work with the likes of the Coen Brothers, work in America, and do so much work in U.K. independent film."

Melling elaborated, "Harry Potter is this huge, huge franchise, and I never wanted to be in any way shackled to it. I always wanted to have a really big career and try lots of different things."

Since leaving the wizarding world behind, Melling has built a career defined by eclectic choices.

He has appeared in multiple Coen Brothers films, including The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, starred in Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit.

Speculation swirled about whether he might return for HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter TV series. 

Melling dismissed the idea, saying he’s spent his “entire life running away from it.”