The Major Harry Potter Character Who Had The Least Amount Of Screen Time
The Harry Potter movies inspired a generation. While millions of children read the books, the films brought these beloved characters (and their magic) to life for all to witness on the big screen. All these years after the film series ended, fans are still coming across stunning realizations about their favorite movies. Additionally, names like Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy are now known around the world. It makes sense, considering they're some of the highest-grossing movies of all time — and with eight of them out there, that's plenty of time for audiences to become acquainted with these wonderful wizards and witches.
Naturally, characters like Harry Potter himself, or his best friend Ron Weasley, get multiple hours of screen time across the series. However, while you might assume that all of the important secondary characters receive at least an hour of screen time — throughout the entire series, mind you — that's where you'd be wrong.
A recent article from Marie Claire breaks down how much time the characters receive, and some of the results are surprising. The likes of Lord Voldemort, for instance, showed up for 37 minutes and 15 seconds across eight films, while Hagrid shows up for only about 45 minutes. Even antagonist Draco Malfoy only gets about 30 minutes across the franchise. In other words, these iconic individuals show up for less than one third of a single Harry Potter-length film, and yet, still managed to make an impact.
However, there's one particular major character who has shockingly little screen time, considering how critical he is to the Harry Potter mythos.
Neville Longbottom appears in 28 minutes and 15 seconds of the Harry Potter movies
Neville Longbottom, as played by Matthew Lewis, is a classmate of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. He's a meek wizard with an interest in botany. As a young boy, he can't even stop a group of kids from leaving the Gryffindor commons, but in the final film, he ultimately gets his heroic moment by beheading Lord Voldemort's snake, Nagini, destroying the final horcrux in the process, and allowing Harry to defeat his nemesis once and for all.
Neville is a fan-favorite character ... which is really saying something considering he doesn't really show up all that often in the films. Despite appearing in all eight films, Matthew Lewis only had roughly 28 minutes and 15 seconds across the entire franchise. Note that these stats from Marie Claire only account for scenes where a character has a prominent place within the frame: thus, scenes where Neville is just kind of hanging around in the background don't count for his total.
It really just goes to show how you can do a lot with a little. In less time than it takes to bake a casserole, Lewis was able to adeptly demonstrate how a shy, introverted young wizard who can barely cast a spell ends up becoming a central figure in the Battle of Hogwarts. Without him, there's no way our heroes would have been able to defeat He Who Must Not Be Named. He literally goes from a zero to hero, and he's a prime example of how you don't need a ton of screen time to make audiences fall in love with you.