“Harry Potter” fans have known for a long while now that Matthew Lewis, who played Neville Longbottom in the franchise, had a serious glow-up following his puberty years. But evidently, “The Late Late Show” host James Corden was unaware — at least until Tuesday night.
Before getting into the meat of the show, Corden admitted that he was exhausted, because he couldn’t sleep after doing a live TV interview at 4:30 a.m. So, Corden asked various members of his crew what they did the night before, in the hopes it was a better night than his, prompting several to admit that they watched HBO Max’s “Return to Hogwarts” reunion special. And with that, came a startling realization for all of them.
“You know that dude who played Neville Longbottom in the movies?” head writer Ian Karmel asked. “He’s like super handsome now.”
Corden admitted he hasn’t yet seen the special, but remembers what Neville Longbottom looked like in the early films. So, the show brought up a photo of present-day Matthew, and Corden was blown away.
“Stop!” Corden marveled. “That’s Neville Long — wow. That is a handsome man. There’s no denying it, that’s a handsome man. He’s hot now. I agree! There’s no denying it, it can’t be denied. That’s a hot Neville.”
From there, the cheesy pick-up lines started flowing. “Platform 9 3/4, more like Platform perfect 10,” Karmel joked.
“Late Late Show” writer Olivia Harewood noted she also watched the 20th anniversary special on Tuesday night, which surprised Corden, because he didn’t think she was a “Harry Potter” fan.”
“I’m not really, but hot Neville can open my chamber of secrets,” she joked.
You can watch the full discussion in the video here and above, with Matthew Lewis coming up at the 6:15 mark.