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Chris Rankin Talks Percy Weasley, Harry Potter Audition, Co-Star Memories | Corpus Christi Comic Con
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Jul 12, 2025
Chris Rankin (Percy Weasley from Harry Potter) joins us at Corpus Christi Comic Con 2025 for a 5 Question Interview! He reveals the surprising quote fans ask him to sign most, how he landed the role of Percy at just 16, and shares unforgettable memories from set—including working with legends like Alan Rickman and Maggie Smith. 📍 Filmed July 11, 2025, at Corpus Christi Comic Con 🧙♂️ Chris is appearing all weekend—catch him in person July 12–13! 🎥 Presented by Tales From The Collection 👍 Subscribe for more exclusive celebrity interviews from the con floor!
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My name is Chris Rankin and this is my
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five question interview. When signing
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autographs, what quote do fans ask for
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the most? This is a really interesting
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one because it actually changes
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depending on where you are in the world.
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So in Germany, Percy in the German
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language version of Harry Potter says
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Nick. And apparently in Germany that's
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like become quite a kind of like cult
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thing to say like everyone says it means
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basically means no
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dawling I guess or something like that.
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But it it's kind of part of like
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culture. I don't know. Apparently I
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never said it obviously cuz I did it in
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English. But I get Nick B in Germany. Um
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and then Cap Draonus, which is the
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Gryffindor password, is often a very
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popular one as well. Yeah, I'd say
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that's probably the most popular one. Or
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excuse me, I'm head boy. That's the
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other one as well. You were just 16 when
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you landed the role of Percy. What
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stands out most about that audition?
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Uh good. Oh, that's a good one. So I'd
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say what stands out most is that it was
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alarmingly easy considering that it's
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was such it ended up being such a big
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part of my life and such a sort of
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important film series in the world I
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guess. Um I had two auditions for
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Potter. I had one audition with Janet
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Hersensen who was the casting director
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that lasted 10 minutes I guess. I just
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had to walk up and down this room and do
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the scene where Percy takes the
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Gryffindors to the common room for the
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first time and it's all the you know
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keeping on the staircases and capraonus
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and all of that. Um, and that seemed to
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go well. So, they made me then she asked
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me to come back like three days later
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and meet Chris Columbus and David Haymon
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and I did the same audition for them and
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it was maybe 20 minutes long. I had to
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do it like two more times in that
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audition. And like the next day they
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said, "You've got the part." And I was
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like, "What? That's like the easiest
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audition I've ever had for anything."
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And it was Harry Potter. Like I've done
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plays that nobody came to see where I've
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had longer and harder auditions. was
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nuts. But yeah, it was easy. That's what
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stands out about it most is how easy it
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was. Maybe I was just Maybe I just was
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Percy Weasley. Maybe that's typ casting
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again. What was it like being on set of
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a Harry Potter film? Well,
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it was always really cool. Like we had
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all these amazing places you can go and
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see now at the Warner Brothers Studio
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Tour. I get the plug right in there. Um
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but it was it was amazing because the
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the amount of detail that goes into each
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one of those sets was incredible. like
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the Weasley's house, the burrow when we
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were filming in there for Chamber of
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Secrets. Like you could open the kitchen
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drawers and there would be cutlery and
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knives and forks and spoons and things
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and like little pictures that apparently
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the kids have drawn when they were
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babies and stuff and nobody ever sees
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any of that. Like nobody opens a drawer
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in the films, but it's just it's there
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just in case. It all adds to it, which I
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think is um
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yeah, that's that's kind of what makes
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it really special. So, I think that's
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what I really enjoyed was all these
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little hidden secret bits and also just
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hanging out with people really. I mean,
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like in the great hall, we spent a lot
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of time in that great hall, but we were
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all together, so it was really it was
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awesome, you know, and we're there. If
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you're filming a feast scene, it would
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take like maybe two or 3 weeks. So, it
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was it's quite an intense thing. Yeah.
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You shared the screen with some
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incredible actors we've since lost. Um,
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do any particular memories stand out
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from working with them? Um
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yeah,
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I mean we have we've lost loads like
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Richard Harris, Gambon, Robbie Col
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Train, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith. uh so
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many of them have have passed on now
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which is really sad but equally you know
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that is the passing of time but it was
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all I mean I didn't get to work with
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Alan Rickman particularly but it was
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always incredible just being on set and
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like watching him from a distance kind
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of go Alan Rickman that's the sheriff of
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Nottingham that's Hans Kruber um and
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honestly I think we were all a little
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bit scared of Allan cuz when he was in
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that Snape when he was in that Snape
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costume that didn't happen Um, when he
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was in that Snape costume, he was kind
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of slightly terrifying. Um, Maggie Smith
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had the driest sense of humor I've ever
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come across, and I was never entirely
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sure whether she was just being funny or
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genuinely hated me, but I think she was
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just being funny. Like I remember we did
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a scene that was cut, but it is on the
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it's on the Aszkaban DVD I think where
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we're in the Gryffindor common room and
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uh we're talking to Sir Kadugan, the
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portrait of the um of the night and
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um there's a bit where it's me and
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Maggie in a closeup together and I
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remember when we were rehearsing it, she
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was like, "You're standing in my light."
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And I thought I genuinely thought the
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world was going to end. Um, but then you
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could just see that little twinkle in
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the corner of her eye. And yeah, uh, I
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also I worked with her a little bit. I
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worked on Downtown Abbey in when I was
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working in TV production later on. And
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it was really nice to go back and and
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work again with her and with her double,
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her her body double, Ros, who was with
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her on the first Harry Potter film,
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still with her,
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gosh, 15, 16 years later. So, yeah, it
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was that was fun. That was good fun.
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What do you remember about working with
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Daniel, Emma, and Robert on the Harry
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Potter set? Ah,
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when we were younger, so on the first
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movie, it was funny because Robert was a
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constant giggler. Like that boy would
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giggle at absolutely anything. So by
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like the end of the day when everyone
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was getting a bit tired and we'd been
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working for, you know, five or six hours
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and they were young kids. They were 10,
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11 years old and they'd have to do 4
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hours of schooling every day and film
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these huge movies. You know, when you
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get a bit tired and a bit silly. Robert
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was a real giggler. Dan
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um Dan is like the most brainy,
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knowledgeable person on all the most
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random stuff ever. And you could have
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like even when he was 11, 12 years old,
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you could have these really weirdly
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indepth conversations about very niche
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things with him. Um, and then Emma was
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Hermione Granger. Emma just was Hermione
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Granger, actually. Um, but me and Emma
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arrived to the studio for our first day
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ever together. So, the car that picked
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me up had already picked her up. So, we
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walked in to that first ever day, which
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was the table read for the first movie.
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We walked in together. So, yeah,
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she's always been She's always She was
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always a Miley. Always was, always will
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be. Yeah, that was question five. And
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then you can find me on well this
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weekend you can find me in Corpus
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Christi cuz that's where we are at
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Corpus Christi Comic-Con right now here
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till Sunday. Um and then you can find me
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on social media. If it says Chris Rankin
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and it's got a blue tick next to it,
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it's almost certainly me. Uh it's
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cwrankin on Instagram. Uh
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facebook.com/chris
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rankin I think. Um and then chris
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rankin.co.uk
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for the website.
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Thanks.