In an interview with George Weasley’s Oliver Phelps, Huffington Post asked the actor about the Potterverse, Peter Pettigrew, J.K. Rowling and life after George.
One thing that has baffled the mind of Potterheads since reading “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” is how Peter Pettigrew managed to remain hidden as Scabbers the rat for so long.
Especially when such a thing as the Marauders Map exists.
Harry spotted Pettigrew on the Marauders Map almost instantly when the twins gave him his father’s creation. But, although Fred and George Weasley had likely kept a very close eye on the map, they somehow missed the dead man’s name show up in the presence of their brother with the tell-all dot.
In an interview with HuffPost, Oliver Phelps, who played George in the films, decided the twins had in fact seen the name, but had chosen not to ask Ron about it.
Ron’s secret relationship, and other Potter things
“Maybe it’s a boo in the family that no one talks of. ‘Who’s this Peter bloke?’ Maybe it was an unspoken word in the Weasley family,” Phelps told HuffPost.
He added that it must’ve been a surprise to the twins when Ron started dating Hermione, since they thought that he and “that Peter bloke” had something going on.
In addition to discussing Ron’s dating choices, Phelps also revealed that J.K. Rowling told he and twin brother James Phelps, who played Fred, the background stories of their characters.
Unfortunately, Phelps didn’t share the knowledge with the public, so any cool and interesting stories of the origins of the Weasley twins remain hidden to all but Rowling and the Phelps brothers.
Phelps confessed the “Harry Potter” cast played football (soccer) in the Great Hall and cricket on Privet Drive while on set, and how intimidating he found Rowling.
Life after Hogwarts
He also discussed his life and projects outside of “Harry Potter.” Phelps said life as a conventional actor who no longer works only on $150 million budget films has been eye-opening.
Although Oliver and James have created separate projects, they still primarily work with each other.
"“I think we both realized that our niche is together in some aspects of it, so we’ve got some other projects of our own we’ll be working on, which has been, again, a new side of it, learning different things.”"
And he revealed that the brothers are trying to get a TV show off the ground, a travel documentary series where they share two viewpoints of the same city.
How awesome is that?
Unfortunately, his days as one-half of the mischievous Weasley twins has impacted his everyday life in a not-so-positive way.
"“Every time I ever go into Hamleys [Toy Shop] in London, I get a funny look. It’s one of those things, I think, because we are known as pranksters and everything else like that. We never quite went that way.”"
However, Phelps added that people do find them approachable because of their characters, which he appreciates.
"“It’s nice when you’re out and about and some people recognize us, and they’ll take a second because the hair is different. If we’re both together, people know straight away where they recognize us from. I’d say it happens daily.”"
Phelps is still waiting on that Hogwarts letter
Above all, he really wants a lifetime entrance to Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and asked Universal for a gold card akin to the kind you get from Disneyland.
“They said, ‘well, we don’t do that at Universal. Just call the office, and they’ll get you in,” Phelps said.
What a shame. A gold card to Hogwarts would’ve definitely been Phelps’ version of the Hogwarts letter. At least he has to keep waiting for his, just like the rest of us.
Next: Will the original Harry Potter and the Cursed Child cast take on NYC?
To read more from the brilliant mind of Oliver Phelps, including his thoughts on George Weasley as Willy Wonka, shooting the “Morning” scene in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” mispronouncing Voldemort and doing the old twin switcheroo on set, check out the HuffPost article.