The Aspect Of The Harry Potter Fandom That Has Tom Felton Slightly Freaked Out
There's one part of the Harry Potter fandom that freaks out one of the film franchise's original stars.
In an interview with AP Entertainment, Tom Felton — who played petty Hogwarts bully Draco Malfoy throughout the entire series — admitted that, though he has extremely fond memories of working on the franchise, there's one thing about Harry Potter fans in 2021 that leaves him just a little unsettled.
"How do you shake off the burden?" Felton asked sarcastically, which is apparently a question he's asked a lot; however, the star said he's "incredibly proud" of the work he did in the franchise, and is always more than happy to pose for a photo or video when he encounters a fan in the wild. However, one thing kind of gets to him; as Felton put it, "I was slightly freaked out at the fact that most of the fans weren't born when we made the first film," Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which hit theaters in November 2001.
Draco Malfoy is one of Harry Potter's most complex — and wronged — characters
There are a ton of villains in Harry Potter, from the series' Big Bad, the Dark Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) to cruel government stooge Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton), and Draco, a typical schoolyard bully from Hogwarts' Slytherin House, is certainly one of them, spending the majority of his time terrorizing Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and his friends. However, it could be argued that not only was Draco simply misguided, but that the series missed an opportunity to give him a redemption arc like it did for other characters.
Raised by bigoted parents to believe reprehensible things about blood purity and impoverished wizards, Draco is at an immediate disadvantage by the time he gets to Hogwarts, and unfortunately, he never really seems to change much at all. Rather than give Draco any redemptive qualities for most of the books and films, the character is petty, mean, and completely unlikable; though this shifts a bit when he's given the doomed task of murdering Hogwarts' headmaster Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) — which he ultimately realizes he simply can't do — he ends the story working for Voldemort and pretending to change alliances whenever it suits him, rather than fight for what's right.
Felton delivered a pitch-perfect performance as the sneering, snarling Draco, but throughout the films, the character definitely gets the short end of the stick. The Harry Potter films are available to stream on Peacock now.