{"id":771775,"date":"2026-09-15T20:52:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T20:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/771775\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T20:52:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T20:52:13","slug":"harry-potters-new-star-johnny-flynn-says-private-schools-should-be-burnt-to-the-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/771775\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry Potter\u2019s new star Johnny Flynn says private schools should be \u2018burnt to the ground\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Harry Potter star Johnny Flynn<\/a> has said that he doesn\u2019t think private schools should exist, stating that they should be \u201cburnt to the ground\u201d after his own \u201ctraumatic\u201d experience at boarding school.<\/p>\n

The British actor, 43, is best known for starring in Channel 4 sitcom Lovesick (formerly known as Scrotal Recall), the 2020 film Emma, and most recently, the Paramount+ crime drama MobLand. He is about to take on the role of Lucius Malfoy in HBO\u2019s forthcoming Harry Potter<\/a> TV adaptation. <\/p>\n

In a new interview, Flynn opened up about his childhood \u2013 revealing that he was badly bullied while studying at Winchester\u2019s Pilgrims\u2019 School. He attended the boarding school from age seven after securing a choral scholarship. <\/p>\n

\"FlynnFlynn spoke about his traumatic experience at boarding school in a new interview (Getty)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was quite traumatic for me,\u201d he told the Radio Times<\/a>. \u201cI think they should all be burnt to the ground, I don\u2019t think private schools should exist.\u201d <\/p>\n

He added that he developed \u201clittle nervous tics\u201d after being separated from his family and only unpacked the mental toll that it took years later. <\/p>\n

Having undergone \u201cbrilliant\u201d therapy, Flynn said: \u201cI suddenly thought, \u2018God, there\u2019s something quite painful about this.\u2019 I learnt there was something called boarding school syndrome. And I\u2019m good, I\u2019m OK now.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Pilgrims\u2019 School told The Independent in a statement: \u201cWe are saddened to hear of anyone who recalls a difficult experience during their time at school. Pilgrims’ has evolved significantly over the years and, as with schools across the country, our safeguarding and pastoral approaches are continually reviewed and strengthened. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe children learn best when they feel safe, valued and that they belong. Creating a culture of kindness, respect and inclusion is therefore fundamental to everything we do. Alongside a strong pastoral framework, the wellbeing of every pupil remains at the heart of school life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flynn will be playing Lucius Malfoy \u2013 the father of Harry Potter\u2019s nemesis \u2013 in the new Harry Potter seres. The role was originally played by Jason Isaacs in the film adaptations. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s just one of the British stars fronting the revival<\/a> for HBO, with John Lithgow playing Professor Dumbledore, Janet McTeer playing Minerva McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu playing Severus Snape, Nick Frost playing Hagrid and Luke Thallon playing Professor Quirrell, among others. <\/p>\n

Young actors Dominic McLaughlin, Arabella Stanton and Alastair Stout will take on the three main roles of Harry Potter, Hermoine Granger and Ron Weasley. <\/p>\n

The series has been plagued by controversy before even hitting our screens<\/a>, with the LGBTQ+ community threatening to boycott the project over author JK Rowling\u2019s involvement. The Harry Potter author has been increasingly known for sharing anti-transgender rhetoric on social media over the last few years.<\/p>\n

When asked his thoughts on the matter, Flynn said: \u201cOf course I have feelings about that, but I want to talk about the gratitude I feel at being able to do what I do,\u201d adding that he took on the role to please his three children, who he shares with wife Beatrice Minns. <\/p>\n

\"FlynnFlynn will be playing Lucius Malfoy, a role played by Jason Isaacs in the Harry Potter films (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Gary Oldman \u2013 who played Sirius Black in the films \u2013 said that he thinks the show will be \u201cmore satisfying\u201d <\/a>than the movie adaptations. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to cut a lot, and still we could only get the films down to, like, three hours,\u201d he told Entertainment Weekly. \u201cI believe [the TV series is] gonna do it pretty much word-for-word, which I think, as a viewer, would be more satisfying.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[254679,184836,71525,184846,626,6491,6494,254678,96,44184,55473,59,11237,254680,192859,6487,184838,254677,184839,5840,36615,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-771775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-51st-toronto-international-film-festival","tag-arrival","tag-arts-culture-and-entertainment","tag-attending","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-color-image","tag-elsinore-film","tag-entertainment","tag-film-industry","tag-film-premiere","tag-gb","tag-horizontal","tag-johnny-flynn-musician-and-actor","tag-ontario-canada","tag-photography","tag-premiere-event","tag-princess-of-wales-theatre","tag-red-carpet-event","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-international-film-festival","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}