Where Is Ron From Harry Potter Now?
From the moment he picked up his first "Harry Potter" book, Rupert Grint loved the boy wizard's wise-cracking best friend, Ronald Weasley. "I've always felt a kind of connection to him," the actor told Time Out (via Digital Spy). After seeing a news report about auditions, he sent in a photo of himself along with a rap about why he was the right kid for the role, and it worked. His dream had come true, but nothing could've prepared him for the levels of fame he was about to reach.
One of the moments that made Grint realize that his life was never going to be the same was when he got chased through Tokyo by a mob of school kids following the release of the first "Harry Potter" film in Japan. "It was terrifying, absolutely mad," he told Radio Times. "There was literally a stampede toward us. It was the first time I've ever run away." By the third and fourth film, Grint was starting to feel the pressure. He almost walked away at one stage, but he decided to stick with Ron to the end, which was a bittersweet experience for him. "It was disarming, and at that point, I didn't really know what was happening," he told The Guardian. "I felt a bit lost."
What has Grint been up to in the years since? Read on to find out.
The line between Rupert Grint and Ron Weasley started to blur
Rupert Grint enjoyed his "Harry Potter" experience for the most part, but being one of the stars of a hugely successful film franchise was often a challenge for the young Brit. He was 11 years old when he won the role of Ron Weasley, and he's lived in a world where pretty much everyone knows his face ever since. He said that it's now a "struggle to remember life before" Ron in an interview with Radio Times. "I think I lost myself a bit along the way," Grint said. "With the fame, you're almost being the character even when you're not in character."
This sensation only worsened as the years went by. Speaking to The Guardian, the actor revealed that he got to the point where he didn't know where Ron ended and Rupert began. "The line between Ron and me became thinner with each film, and I think we became virtually the same person," Grint said. "There's a lot of me in Ron, and moving on was a massive adjustment because it was such a constant part of my life." One thing Grint has that his character doesn't is a lot of money. The actor made a mint playing Ron in "Harry Potter," and he's estimated to have a net worth of $50 million today.
He distanced himself from Ron Weasley with risky roles
Daniel Radcliffe made sure people knew that he'd left "Harry Potter" behind when he appeared naked on stage in Peter Shaffer's "Equus" in 2007. It wasn't as clear-cut in Grint's case, but the role he took right after finishing "Harry Potter" was definitely a far cry from Ron Weasley. The actor changed his hairstyle and adopted a newly learned (and notoriously difficult) accent to play "a really argumentative and feisty kind of guy" from Liverpool in the World War II film "Into the White," his first post-Potter project. "It was quite a dramatic change," he told fan site Rupert-Grint.us.
Grint pushed the boat out even further in his next film, taking on the role of punk rock legend Cheetah Chrome in "CBGB." He even had his own mini "Equus" moment, dropping his pants and showing his bare backside on screen. "This just happened, and it felt right, somehow," he told The Daily Beast, adding, "On set, it's easier than you think." Grint seemed to be actively seeking roles that would paint him in a new light, though it was less a conscious effort and more a natural progression, he said. "Now that we're all getting older, drugs, nudity, and those things are going to come hand-in-hand with that growing up, as far as the parts we choose."
Rupert Grint got the chance to reunite with Alan Rickman
Rupert Grint had a blast playing Cheetah Chrome in "CBGB," and part of that was getting to work with an old friend. Alan Rickman, who played antagonist turned tragic hero Severus Snape in the "Harry Potter" movies, took on the role of CBGB owner Hilly Kristal in the film. Grint hadn't caught up with Rickman since their Hogwarts days, and he was so happy to see him. "I really love Alan," he told The Daily Beast at the time, adding, "It was just kind of strange to see him in this whole new character and in such a completely different environment. ... It's kind of like Snape is suddenly a different person."
Rickman shared several memorable "Harry Potter" scenes with Grint, particularly in the early films. The veteran actor watched his career keenly in the years that followed. "It was great to see him on the set," Rickman told The Huffington Post during a joint interview. He went to say, "It's great to watch the three of them moving forward into the rest of their lives and being working actors and not trapped by one image." When Rickman died of pancreatic cancer a few years later, Grint was "devastated," he said in a statement. "I feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to work with him on numerous occasions," he wrote (via BBC).
He fell out of love with acting
Rupert Grint's first roles were in school plays, but as a boy, he never dreamed about acting professionally. "I mean, I fell in love with it while I was doing it, but I definitely did think, 'Is this really what I want to do?'" he told Entertainment Weekly. He landed some interesting roles after leaving the Wizarding World behind (notable post-"Potter" film credits include "Charlie Countryman," a romantic crime drama set in Romania, and "Moonwalkers," a comedy about moon landing conspiracy theorists), but he's always known that Ron Weasley would be near impossible to top.
"I kind of peaked very early on, I think," Grint said when he sat down for a Zoom chat with Esquire in 2021, telling the magazine that he "wasn't in a huge rush to do as many things as [he] could" once "Harry Potter" ended. His interest waned so much at one stage that he thought he might be done with acting for good, but it turned out he just needed a change of medium to reignite his passion. "I think when I started doing a bit of theater, that's when I got a bit of the love back," he said. Grint made his West End debut in 2013's "Mojo" and debuted on Broadway the following year, appearing alongside Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane in the critically acclaimed comedy "It's Only a Play."
He channeled Prince Harry in Snatch
After finding his mojo again in the theater, Rupert Grint returned to television. The former "Harry Potter" man starred alongside Nick Frost in the comedy series "Sick Note," and he also decided to produce his own TV project, a show based on a classic British gangster film: "Snatch." Guy Ritchie's follow-up to "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" put British gangster films back on the map, and Grint knew that adapting such a beloved property wouldn't be easy. "There was definitely hesitation, but that was the main attraction," he told Collider. "I loved the original film. I was way too young to have seen it when it came out, but I loved it."
Grint plays Charlie Cavendish-Scott, a cheeky redhead from an aristocratic English family who wants to make it on his own. Sound at all familiar? "I watched a lot of Prince Harry videos," he admitted when asked how he prepared for the role, a stark contrast from the post-"Potter" parts that came before it. "Charlie lives in this world where he's very proud of his family name and everything that means, but doesn't have any money." While audiences loved it, the critics were not as keen. Grint saw the potential for multiple seasons of "Snatch," but Crackle decided not to pick the show up beyond 2018's Season 2.
He spoke out against J.K. Rowling's transgender essay
"Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling upset a lot of people when she followed up some comments she made about transgender women with a lengthy essay that defended her words. "Endlessly unpleasant as its constant targeting of me has been, I refuse to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm in seeking to erode 'woman' as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it," she wrote. As she no doubt predicted, her essay caused a major stir, and before long, the stars of "Harry Potter" were speaking out against it.
After Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe did the same, Rupert Grint released a statement on the issue, showing his support for the trans community. "I think to stay silent would have spoke," he told Esquire. "Sometimes silence is even louder. I felt like I had to because I think it was important to. ... Just out of kindness, and just respecting people. I think it's a valuable group that I think needs standing up for." Does that mean he has cut ties with Rowling altogether? Not necessarily. Grint told the magazine, "I think also you can have huge respect for someone and still disagree with things like that."
He kept his relationship with another actor secret for years
Rupert Grint has been in a relationship with British actor Georgia Groome, best known for her starring turn in the 2008's "Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging," for well over a decade at this point. The two somehow managed to keep their relationship secret for seven years, and when fans found out, they loved the fact that the two child stars were an item. Grint rarely discusses the relationship in interviews, but he opened up about it when he sat down with Glamour in 2021, revealing that they're as close today as they've ever been.
"It's a very natural thing — we're just best friends," Grint told the mag. "We're kind of the same person; we think the same way. That's always made it work — that's why it's lasted. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is, but it works, and it's great." Groome hasn't spent much time in the limelight since "Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging" came out, though the film has become a coming-of-age cult classic in the U.K., where it's seen as "the 'Bridget Jones' of teen romcoms," according to Grow Up. Groome was most recently seen in the 2017 horror comedy "Double Date," which scored an impressive 82% on Rotten Tomatoes.
He set a new world record when he joined Instagram
Rupert Grint became the fastest person to reach a million followers on Instagram when he joined in 2020, taking the title from British national treasure Sir David Attenborough. The naturalist and broadcaster got to a million followers in four hours and 44 minutes (per Sky News), but Grint hit that same milestone with almost three-quarters of an hour to spare, taking the crown in just over four hours. "Only 10 years late, but here I am," he said in his first post, a picture of him holding his newborn daughter, Wednesday G. Grint. (He's confirmed that should he ever have a son, he's unlikely to name him Ron).
The post was liked over 3.7 million times, and Grint was perfectly poised to become an Instagram dad, but he hasn't really uploaded much since then. In fact, at the time of this writing, he still only has six posts on his feed. Social media comes naturally to many stars of his age, but it's never been Grint's thing. "I'm quite a private person, I think, and the idea of sharing everything to the world does kind of terrify me," he said when Esquire asked about his fledgling Instagram account. "But I'm slowly easing my way in. I kind of enjoy it."
Rupert Grint had an 'identity crisis' after becoming a dad
Playing the role of Ron Weasley for so many years left Rupert Grint with some identity issues, and he found himself going through something similar after his girlfriend, Georgia Groome, welcomed their first child in 2020. "I struggle with that, being a dad," he said. "[I] had a bit of an identity crisis. I don't know — do I change the way I dress now?" It's also made him more nervous than ever. He revealed that his "first night [as a dad] was just terrifying" during his candid chat with Esquire, conducted when Wednesday was just 9 months old.
Since then, Grint has found his feet, becoming "every inch the doting dad," according to the Daily Mail. Fatherhood seems to suit the "Harry Potter" star, who quit smoking when his daughter was born and is now happier and healthier than ever, despite the fact that he and Groome become new parents during a global pandemic. "I think it's made the whole experience even more intense and insular," he told Glamour. "It's just been us, working it out in a house. I feel a lot more — I don't know, weirdly relaxed. It's been a very calming process for me."
He's getting major plaudits for M. Night Shyamalan's Servant
If Rupert Grint's ability as an actor was ever in question, the Apple TV+ series "Servant" has answered critics emphatically. From the mind of M. Night Shyamalan, the show follows a wealthy couple (Lauren Ambrose and Toby Kebbell) struggling to keep it together after the death of their 13-week-old child. They decide to give transitory object therapy a try, but things become complicated when Ambrose's Dorothy has a breakdown and begins to believe the lifelike doll is her real son. Things get even weirder when the nanny they hire starts treating the doll like it's a real kid too.
Grint plays the younger brother of Ambrose's character, and he's been getting rave reviews. The Brit deserves an Emmy nomination according to Entertainment Weekly, and Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro has singled out his performance for praise. The "Harry Potter" alum "almost steals it," the director said in a tweet. Shyamalan told Grint just how impressed he's been with his acting on the show in a 2021 Interview magazine chat. "I don't think there's a bad take of you," he said. "I'm not just saying that. I've seen them all."
He still hasn't seen all the Harry Potter movies
Millions upon millions of people enjoyed watching Rupert Grint bring Ron Weasley to life over the course of eight "Harry Potter" movies, but the actor himself wasn't one of them. When he spoke to Radio Times in 2018, he revealed that he'd still only seen the early films. "I can detach myself a bit more from that kid," he explained, going on to add, "But the more recent ones I definitely couldn't do. I could probably go up to 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.'" Grint revealed that he had only just revisited "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" for the first time since the premiere, adding, "I actually enjoyed looking back."
Has his stance changed in the years since? In short, no. Grint still hasn't gone past "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," his third outing as Ron Weasley. "After that I stopped watching them," he told Variety in February 2021. Grint said that "it still feels too soon" to revisit the later "Harry Potter" installments when he dropped by Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast a few weeks later (via Metro). "It made me feel really conscious of my face," he said of watching himself on screen. "I like being in the moment, creating it, and then leaving it."
He's considering a career change
The "Harry Potter" films could've turned out quite differently had Rupert Grint decided to quit the franchise as a teenager. "There were definitely times when I thought about leaving," he told The Guardian. "Filming 'Harry Potter' was a massive sacrifice, working from such a young age for such long periods, and I definitely remember thinking during one extended break, 'This whole thing is so all-consuming, do I really want to go back?'" He did go back, of course, but those feelings have never really left him. Speaking to The Sunday Times Magazine (via My London) in the fall of 2021, Grint revealed that he has "always toyed with the idea of walking away from acting and becoming a dad has increased those feelings."
The actor went on to reveal that he would love to "go off and do something completely different, like building or carpentry." He got into making miniature pottery during lockdown ("It's the most therapeutic thing," he told Glamour), and he's also a keen beekeeper, a passion that he shares with Georgia Groome. "I think I've always had that kind of ethos that nothing is forever," he told Esquire. "I do just feel like, 'Maybe I'll just be a beekeeper. I'll just do that.' I love acting, and I love being a part of the show. ... But I do often think maybe I could do something else later on."
Would Rupert Grint ever reprise the role of Ron Weasley?
Rupert Grint had mixed feelings when he learned that the "Harry Potter" franchise was set to expand with a new TV show on HBO Max. The finer details of the series are being kept under wraps, with fans unsure what to expect. When Variety asked Grint about the project, he told the Hollywood trade that it would "be weird if it was a continuation kind of thing" and another actor took on the role of Ron Weasley. "I weirdly feel quite protective of that character," he said. "Even when I saw the stage shows, it was a very strange experience. ... If it's like a different group of friends, I guess it would be interesting."
He doesn't appear to be keen on handing over his wand, but does that mean he would reprise the role himself should the opportunity arise? "I mean, never say never," he told ComicBook.com in December 2020 video call. "I would never say, 'Absolutely no.' It was a huge part of my life, and I'm very fond of that character and their stories. So yeah, I mean, I'd be up for it at the right time." Rumors that Grint, Daniel Radcliffe, and Emma Watson could reunite for a new feature film have been doing the rounds for years now, but nothing has been confirmed.