‘Harry Potter’ Star Talks Feeling ‘Intimated’ by Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint

Harry Potter fans may consider Evanna Lynch part of the series’ main cast, but she didn’t always see it that way. Lynch — who played Luna Lovegood in half of the movies — explained that she was often “intimidated” by her co-stars with top billing. In a recent interview with Us Weekly, Lynch reflected on this unique form of social anxiety.

As the eccentric Ravenclaw Luna Lovegood, Lynch spent a lot of time with Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint — who played Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, respectively. She said that because she was such a big fan of the franchise before landing the role, she found herself a little starstruck around the three of them. Luna is not introduced until the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Lynch was brought in for the corresponding movie. She said that it was Watson who made an effort to draw her out of her shell.

“Emma was always so nice to me and made an effort to get to know me and make me feel at home, which was a huge deal coming from her,” Lynch said. “And because I was such a big Harry Potter fan, I was very nervous around those three and intimidated by them. And I used to be in the car on the way to set, kind of rehearsing conversations I’d have with them. And obviously, the conversations never worked out like that. I was so nervous. So, I just remember her being really kind and making a lot of effort to make me feel at home.”

Lynch — now 29 years old — said she was closer with other members of the cast simply because they spent more downtime together. She explained: “The thing is, they [Radcliffe, Watson and Grint] were always working every day on set. The rest of us, we’d have breaks and we’d be off getting to know each other and playing games and stuff.”

These days, Lynch said she keeps in touch with other cast members and remains shocked to see them growing into adults. She was asked about Grint’s foray into parenthood and said: “I haven’t seen his daughter. I heard he is a father, it’s very hard to imagine! I’d say he’d be a wonderful dad and unusual dad.”

“Scarlett [Byrnes], who played Pansy Parkinson, she has a baby. She was pregnant throughout the whole pandemic and now she’s a mom and I haven’t met her daughter — just over FaceTime,” Lynch continued. “I think it’s the same for everyone, that people are going through big life shifts and changes, but a lot of us are not there to witness it. It’s gonna be such a shock to meet her again and to meet her as a mother.”

Lynch appeared in all the Harry Potter movies following Order of the Phoenix, and has continued to appear in movies, TV shows, plays and other forms of media in the years since. She currently co-hosts a podcast called The Chickpeeps — a weekly discussion about veganism and animal rights activism, which she co-hosts with fellow Harry Potter actor Robbie Jarvis as well as activists Momoko Hill and Tylor Starr. For those looking to return to Hogwarts, all eight Harry Potter movies are streaming now on HBO Max.