Rupert Grint thought Harry Potter reunion was rewarding, even if it was too soon

Rupert Grint knows that he’ll always be Ron—“It’s my second name,” he admits in a new profile for Bustle. Child stardom is always a strange, isolating experience, but child stardom to the level which the Harry Potter stars experienced is a different beast entirely, one that seems utterly inescapable, yet also strange to revisit.

“Potter was so full on—[filming] all year, then we’d promote the rest of the time. It was quite suffocating,” Grint tells Bustle, noting he became so entwined with his characters that “By the end of it, I was playing myself.” He says, “I wanted a break, to reflect on everything… It was an out-of-body experience for a while, but I think we finished at the right time. If we continued, it could’ve gone downhill.”

While Grint’s post-Potter projects have been a huge departure from the beloved children’s series, his break from the Wizarding World wasn’t as long as he thought it would be. In 2021, he participated in HBO Max’s Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts television special, “even though he initially didn’t feel enough time had passed to merit a reunion,” per Bustle.

“It was happening, I didn’t really have a say,” he admits. But the reunion was ultimately a positive experience. “[Being in Harry Potter] was a really unique experience only us core group really know, so it’s nice to see them,” Grint shares. “It was a good opportunity to reflect on everything and just say how crazy it was. It’s always nice to look back.”

“I’ve always felt there was this expectation for us to go off the rails, follow the child star stereotype,” he says of himself and his co-stars, which include Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Tom Felton. While most agree the young stars are remarkably well adjusted for their level of fame, Grint does admit to noticing the media pit them against each other post-Potter. “‘Who’s doing what?’; people contrasting our careers. We’re all completely different and going along different paths.”

Grint’s path has led him to be an M. Night Shyamalan muse in the Apple TV+ series Servant and the upcoming film Knock At The Cabin, so he hasn’t done too poorly for himself. See what a Hogwarts degree can get you!