Matthew Lewis recently spoke to Digital Spy about the Harry Potter films and how he was never sure he’d be back for the next film.

“I originally signed on for one film, with an option on the second,” Lewis recalled. “We didn’t know where it was going to go. After the first two were made, I signed the same deal for number three with an option to do number four. Then nothing came through after number four. We didn’t sign up for five and six – we just didn’t hear anything for a while.There was a bit of speculation on whether they were going to do a fifth one or not.”

Lewis, who celebrates his 22nd birthday today, confessed that he worried that his changing appearance would ensure that he was replaced as the Gryffindor student. “I’d changed quite dramatically in myself – I was wearing a fat suit by this time, I was slimmer and taller than Dan [Radcliffe] and Rupert [Grint],” he said. “So I thought if they were going to recast, they might recast me, because I don’t look like Neville anymore.  But they didn’t, thank God, and went ahead with film five and asked us all back. They made the fat suit bigger and found other ways of making me look a bit more Neville-ish. I guess I owe them for sticking with me!”