Credit: Edited by Inside the MagicOne Harry Potter star has just “escaped” prison, and the once handsome hunk looks entirely unrecognizable after his stint in jail.
The film series and book series have developed a massive fandom, which shattered box office numbers of the time whenever a new film dropped. We have seen Harry Potter-themed experiences tour the world, theme parks such as Universal Orlando Resort develop the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, clothing apparel blow up with licensing deals with the franchise, and so much more. Now, we have seen this expansion travel worldwide, with multiple lands from Hogsmeade, to Diagon Alley and, soon, The Ministry of Magic at Epic Universe, the newest theme park in the Universal Orlando Resort expansion.
Unfortunately, the franchise does have a sort of hex on it due to the creator of the series and originator of all things Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling has time and time again shared her beliefs which dispute transgender rights, which has left many feeling that they need to part ways with their love for the story. Although the characters themselves never share this belief, Rowling is quite vocal in hers.
That being said, the actors associated with the series have done their best to part ways with Rowling. Not too long ago, Daniel Radcliffe, who played the titular role, hosted a round table for trans youth. Emma Watson, who played Hermione, spoke about equality at the United Nations. Rupert Grint, who played Ron Weasley, affirmed his support of the transgender community.
Controversy surrounding the author came to a head when fans boycotted the open-world video game Hogwarts Legacy (2023) long before it eventually hit shelves earlier this year. The game was even banned from one of the world’s largest gaming forums.
While the game isn’t necessarily considered canon with any of the Harry Potter books or films, it still acts as a loose prequel, taking place in the late 1800s, 80 years before the Harry Potter era, much like the Fantastic Beasts series. The game still was such a success that a sequel is now in the works.
For those who do not know, Hogwarts Legacy serves as a loose prequel to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1 (2010), and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 (2011), as well as the three Fantastic Beasts films.
The game takes the player through their year at Hogwarts, where they will have to save the school from an evil that predates Voldemort. All of this happens before Harry Potter even steps into the castle.
Lately, we have seen some failure within the franchise, however. Although the game has broken records, and the initial film franchise did as well, the Fantastic Beasts series certainly did not. Over the course of eight movies, the Harry Potter franchise brought in $7.7 billion at the box office alone. Capitalizing on the popularity of J.K. Rowling’s books, these movies created a new generation of fans. The Fantastic Beasts franchise, meanwhile, proved to be relatively listless and brought in a comparatively low $1.865 billion across its three movies while garnering mostly mixed reviews.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav even spoke out and said, “One of the other real strengths of Warner Bros. is we talk about the great IP that Warner Bros. owns. But, for us, the challenge is that our content, our great IP — ‘Harry Potter’, DC, ‘Lord of the Rings’ — that content has been underused. We haven’t done anything with ‘Harry Potter’ for more than a decade. We haven’t done anything with ‘Lord of the Rings.’ We think there’s a lot of shareholder value in attaching a 10-year DC — a real plan around DC, bringing ‘Harry Potter’ back to HBO for 10 consecutive years, doing multiple movies of ‘Lord of the Rings’… When you put those franchises in, it’s the best-performing studio in the world. We need to deploy our best capital, and we need to do it with the best creative people in the world.”
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2016), the multi-award-winning, two-part West End stage production, has been another that has appeared around the world to massive success. Why? It still revolves in the timeline in which Harry Potter is still alive. The wizard is in the production but as an adult. Fans of the series are able to still feel the nostalgia and recognize the characters they love, while expanding on the storyline.
Some of the more iconic cast members were also not on the Gryffindor side, but rather Slytherin, such as Draco Malfoy and Vincent Crabbe who was played by Jamie Waylett. While Waylett was a student at Emmanuel Primary School, his photograph was taken as part of a general auditioning process for the Harry Potter films. Initially considered for the part of Dudley Dursley, he was cast as Vincent Crabbe after an audition in front of director Chris Columbus.
He ended up starring in the first six films but was recast in the final two.
Despite facing a promising future after acting in one of the highest-grossing film series ever, at age 34 Waylett has not bagged any new acting roles since the Wizarding World movies came to an end.
He was absent from the final two movies after being was arrested in 2009 for growing marijuana in his family home and later pleaded guilty to the possession of cannabis and possession of a knife.
Waylett was 20 years old at the time and was ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work.
The Daily Mail reports, “Later, in 2012 he was arrested for his participation in the London riots the previous year over charges of ‘violent disorder, having an article with intent to destroy or damage property, and receiving stolen goods’. He was sentenced to two years in prison.”
The former actor’s Cameo page offers video messages for £160 each – their average length is one minute and 47 seconds.
From his Cameos, fans have been able to see the actor’s physical appearance change. He’s now sporting facial hair and a face tattoo of stars across his eyebrow. Tom Felton has also taken to Cameo; however, he charges £485 per personalized clip. Waylett has not booked any other role since Harry Potter.
We also saw Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Rupert Grint (Ron), and Emma Watson (Hermione) talking in the Gryffindor common room during the Harry Potter Reunion special on HBO Max.
There were also many more actors from the Harry Potter cast, including fan favorites Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange) and Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), plus Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort), Gary Oldman (Sirius Black), Imelda Staunton (Dolores Umbridge), James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley), Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley), Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom), and Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood).
Do you recognize Jamie now? Let us know in the comments below.