Matthew Lewis Q & A at Awesome Con

When I won a Saturday pass to Awesome Con 2016, courtesy of The Group Who Shall Not Be Named, tops on my list was to see the Q & A panel with Matthew Lewis, the actor who portrayed Neville Longbottom, one of my favorite Harry Potter characters.

I didn’t take notes, but here are some interesting points he shared in response to fan questions:

• If he could choose a patronus, it would be a panda.
• The first scene he filmed was Madame Hooch’s flying lesson.  The last was his courtyard showdown scene with Voldemort.  He could not remember the speech he gave, though.
• He had to buy the books like everyone else to learn what would happen to his character.  JKR offered to tell him when they were filming Order of the Phonenix, but he decided he did not want to know.
• He hates the way he delivered the “You and what army?” line in Deathly Hallows II and cringes every time he sees it.
• If he were to play an adult character in Harry Potter, he would want to be Remus Lupin.  Lupin and Sirius Black were his favorite characters. If he could have been cast as a different child character, he would have wanted to be Draco Malfoy.
• He is still good friends with his peers from the cast.  Emma Watson sent him a birthday video from the Beauty and the Beast set.
• Finally, he gave a touching tribute to Alan Rickman, saying he was a wonderful person who had taught him a lot. He was actually visiting the set of Fantastic Beasts when he learned of his passing, and said it was quite surreal to be in the Harry Potter-type environment when he was grieving his loss.