- Saoirse Ronan nearly played Luna Lovegood
- Calls missing out a “misstep”
- Ronan stars in new movie The Outrun
Saoirse Ronan is set to star in the powerful personal drama The Outrun but it’s a brush with another iconic franchise that has caught people’s attention online.
During a recent visit to chat show Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote her latest role, the Irish star revealed that she came close to playing Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter franchise.
Ultimately, this didn’t come to pass, with the role instead going to fellow Irish actress Evanna Lynch who played the character from 2007’s Order of the Phoenix until the series conclusion in 2011’s Deathly Hallows Part 2.
“There’s things that you’ll pass on and then they come out, and you think, ‘Oh God, that was a misstep on my part,'” said Ronan during her conversation with Kimmel.
“But I think the one that stayed with me over the years — I didn’t say no to it, I just didn’t get the part. I lost, again. It’s a running theme for me. I had gone up for Luna Lovegood in ‘Harry Potter’ years ago, because it was like the Irish character, so they got everyone Irish in — like half of Ireland to come and audition,” she continues. “I knew I wasn’t going to get it because I was too young.”
Despite not landing the role, Ronan still believes her brush with magic was an impactful moment in her young career. “I got to read out a scene that was gonna be in Harry Potter and it was the coolest thing ever,” she told Kimmel.
Who played Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter?
First appearing in the fifth book in J.K. Rowling’s popular wizarding world series, Lovegood is a Ravenclaw who’s often lost in her own dream world.
She goes on to befriend the story’s wizarding heroes Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) and helps them bring down Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).
In the movies, Luna is played by Lynch, who at that point was unknown. While Ronan missed out on the chance to join Radcliffe, Grint and Watson at Hogwarts she went on to star in Joe Wright’s adaptation of author Ian McEwan’s Atonement.
Released the same year as Lovegood’s debut in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Ronan’s performance as a child who inadvertently changes the lives of two adults after seeing something she shouldn’t have went on to earn her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination in 2008.
What is The Outrun about?
Out now in American and UK cinemas, The Outrun is an adaptation of author Amy Liptrot’s memoir of the same name and chronicles her rehabilitation process after falling into a life of alcoholism and drug abuse.
So far, both the movie and Ronan’s performance have gathered glowing reviews, with The Outrun currently holding an 82% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes.
