Exclusive: Matthew Lewis: 'I owe Harry Potter for sticking with me'

Matthew Lewis has admitted that the Harry Potter cast believed that they could lose their roles after filming the fourth film.

The actor has played Neville Longbottom - a close acquaintance of Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) - in all eight films. However, Lewis told Digital Spy that his future as Neville was in doubt after he finished 2005 instalment The Goblet of Fire.

"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!"

Lewis's comments come after his co-star Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) said that he was "very proud" to have appeared in the eight films, after also fearing that he could lose his role mid-way through the franchise.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 opens in cinemas on July 15. Watch the trailer below:

> 'Harry Potter' star 'ready to leave Neville behind'