Harry Potter actor Tom Felton has revealed that he believed early on that the entire cast of the franchise would be replaced after the second film

Harry Potter actor Tom Felton reveals he believed early on that the entire cast of the franchise would be replaced. Today, there is hardly a person in the world who is not aware of the massively successful Harry Potter franchise. Spanning seven novels by author J.K. Rowling and eight films released between 2001 and 2011, the series tells the story of the boy-wizard Harry, who must rise up to meet his destiny of defeating Voldemort, the most evil wizard to ever live. Over the years, Harry Potter has become one of the most successful franchises in history, and is still amassing fans today. The series now also includes several spinoff books, a spinoff film series, an amusement park, and even a play which can be found on both Broadway and The West End.

While the Harry Potter films certainly boast a cast full of established British thespians such as Dame Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman and Michael Gambon, the movies are most remembered for their child actors who many fans watched grow up over the course of the series. The Harry Potter franchise started the acting careers of many well-known actors including Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton and, of course, Daniel Radcliffe who played the titular role for ten years. While it is hard to imagine any of the Harry Potter movies without these actors, it turns out that not all of them were sure that they would make it to see the end of the franchise.

In a recent interview with The Guardian, Malfoy actor Felton has revealed that early on in the series, he believed that the entire cast of child actors in Harry Potter would be replaced. According to Felton, the child actors were only initially signed on for the first two films in the series. Felton has stated that the studio felt that if "the kids still look young enough" after two movies, then they would get to do a third. Apparently, the studio would then reevaluate after each subsequent film. Felton has admitted that he always believed the studio would eventually replace all the kids with "decent actors," but that day never came. See his full quote below:

“If after the second, the kids still looked young enough, maybe we’d do a third. Then a fourth. It went on like that. We never signed up for 12 years. At some point I just assumed they’d replace us with decent actors, but they never did.”

Of course, Felton has to have been joking somewhat, as there has never been any real doubt that the children initially cast in Harry Potter were already decent actors. Perhaps some of them grew into their skills a bit more as the franchise progressed, but nearly all of them have since gone on to star in other hit films, proving that they weren't successful simply by being the right age at the time Harry Potter was cast. Watson can be found in such films as Disney's live-action Beauty and the Beast and Little Women, Radcliffe has made several off-beat films over the last few years, and even Felton can be found in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. 

The studio's reasoning behind reserving the right to replace the child actors is certainly understandable. Working with child actors is always unpredictable, especially when one is making a franchise which will last for at least ten years into the future. With that said, it seems the Harry Potter filmmakers struck gold on the first try, as it is nearly impossible to imagine the students of Hogwarts cast any other way. The franchise's child actors managed to bring some truly iconic characters to life, and today, Harry Potter fans certainly wouldn't want the films cast any other way.

More: All Fantastic Beasts & Harry Potter Characters Who Are Related

Source: The Guardian