For years, Harry Melling has been perhaps best known for his role as Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter franchise — but he now says things seem to be changing.
In a new interview with NME, the former child actor, 33, said he's "always amazed at the generational power" of the franchise since first appearing in 2001's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but he's recently been noticed for his work as an adult.
"My friends have kids now who are [into the books] and they're like: 'Uncle Harry's Dudley!' If someone mentions Harry Potter to me then of course it's something that I'll engage with," Melling said. "It does feel like that narrative's changing though, which is great."
Now playing a fictional version of Edgar Allan Poe in Netflix's The Pale Blue Eye, Melling has recently appeared in The Queen's Gambit and The Devil All the Time.
Melling said that he isn't ashamed to have played Dudley and he understands "it's always going to be there," adding: "I would just like the conversation to be about what I'm doing now as opposed to something I did when I was 10."
When it comes to his roles now, Melling is starting to be sought out by directors and admits that he tries "as much as possible not to step out and see the bigger picture."
"I've always said to myself that if I focus on the work then hopefully everything else will fall into place," Melling added.
The Tragedy of Macbeth actor previously told PEOPLE that "one of the blessings" of his appearance changing since being a child actor was that he "didn't get recognized" as an adult.
Earlier this month, Melling discussed transgender rights during an interview with The Independent, three years after Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling came under fire when she expressed anti-transgender sentiments in a series of June 2020 tweets.
A crime so grisly, only Edgar Allan Poe can help solve it.
— Netflix (@netflix) January 6, 2023
Christian Bale, Harry Melling, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, and Robert Duvall star in the chilling period drama The Pale Blue Eye, now on Netflix. pic.twitter.com/z94HBumG0Q
Melling explained that he doesn't see himself as the "correct spokesperson" for the topic, but he thinks it's "very simple."
"I can only speak for myself, and what I feel, to me, is very simple, which is that transgender women are women and transgender men are men," he said. "Every single person has the right to choose who they are and to identify themselves as what's true to themselves."
"I don't want to join the debate of pointing fingers and saying, 'That's right, that's wrong,' because I don't think I'm the correct spokesperson for that. But I do believe that everybody has the right to choose," Melling added.
Fellow Harry Potter actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have all previously spoken out against Rowling's much-criticized remarks regarding the transgender community, with Radcliffe, 33, stating definitively in a previous essay for The Trevor Project that "transgender women are women."
.jpg "'Harry Potter' Actor Harry Melling on Being Recognized for Other Roles: 'The Narrative's Changing'")
