Neville Longbottom quivered in the backround of most scenes in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, but now he’s all grown up and ready to kick some Death Eater ass in Deathly Hallows – Part 2 -- much to the enjoyment of his actor counterpart Matt Lewis.

We met Matt on set before filming and he gave us the rundown on what it was like to be part of this decade-long franchise and now Neville has changed along the way.

Neville has quite a lot to do in these last two films. How do you like getting so dirty and grungy?

Matt Lewis: The first week was really enjoyable. I thought this, 'This is fun. This is great.’ 12 months later it’s pretty boring now. The novelty has definitely worn off.

Can you give your take on the things Neville gets to do in the upcoming movies?

Lewis: Neville this year is sort of taking over Harry’s role. He’s the unofficial leader of Dumbledore’s Army. He’s sort of barking out orders to people and telling them where to go. He’s really evolved into this leader which I never thought years ago he’d end up doing. It’s really cool to see and to play.

What do you think pushes him into that new role?

Lewis: I think he’s watched Harry all these years be a leader and have so much courage. As he’s seen Harry take on all these responsibilities from everyone, he realizes that they’re not too dissimilar. They both lost parents at when they were very young. He starts to think that maybe he can do this and when Harry leaves the school in number seven, Neville realizes it’s his time to step in and take responsibility. He’s always had this good heart. He always wants to do the right thing and look after people, but he’s never really had the courage to do it and now he’s thought, 'Okay it’s now or never. We’ve got to fight this evil. If no one else is going to step up then I’ll do it.’ That’s what he does and he’s not perfect, but he gives it a go.

Was that fun for you to play?

Lewis: Oh yeah, definitely. It’s brilliant.

When did you know Neville was going bigger places? Did you find out with us when the books came out, or did you know sooner?

Lewis: No, I remember when I read number five. I was just going back to school after half term and I read it. I went to the bus stop in the morning and asked my best mate Anthony if he’d finished reading it and he said, 'Yeah.’ He was like, 'You’re going to have some wicked stuff to do.’ That’s the first time I found out was when I finished number five. The battle stuff we did there was cool. I really enjoyed that. I had no idea what he’d go on to do in number seven. The only idea I thought was when I spoke to J.K. Rowlings at the premiere of number five and she said to me, 'I’ve written some really cool stuff for you for number seven,’ and I was like, 'Don’t tell me anything. I don’t want to know,’ and she said, 'Okay, but you’ll enjoy it.’ Then I read the book and I was like where is it? She promised me and then it comes at the end of it. It was pretty cool. So I’ve spent the last couple of years waiting for this moment. It’s really fun.

Do you think that’s transferred well from the book page to what you’re filming now?

Lewis: Yeah, I hope so. Every year we’ve tried to focus very much on that part of Neville—this idea that he’s so much more than just the geeky one that fell over and stuff. There was always an underlying thing there and slowly as the years came on we tried to add a bit more to his background. I think this year we really show Neville coming full circle. He’s now this leader that Harry was before he left. It’s pretty cool and I’m really looking forward to it. It’s great when you receive fan mail from people who say they’ve been bullied and the character of Neville has inspired them to stand up to bullies. That as an actor is just the most amazing thing you could ever imagine to think that something you’ve done resulted in that person’s inspiration. That’s pretty special and I think we’re doing all right on that front and hopefully we can carry on.

How is David Yates different from the other directors you’ve worked with in this series?

Lewis: David is lovely. He is one of the nicest guys I’ve met in the entire world ever. He’s really so sweet. We get together and he says what he thinks in his mind and then I say what I’ve gathered from reading the script and we come together and we stick it out there and try it out. David is really keen to getting it perfectly so he thinks you had a good idea or he had a good idea, he’ll shoot them both. He’s not averse to taking a little bit of extra time to get a better shot. We’ve got a lot of freedom in terms of that and it’s been good fun. It’s really a team effort working together to try to make it what we both think. One of the first things he said to me was that he had all these ideas in his head. You could tell his image is very vivid. He just said you’ve been playing the guy for so long. You know him better than anyone. Let’s work together and that’s what we do. It’s been a really enjoyable process.

How do you feel about the franchise coming to an end?

Lewis: I’ve been here since I was 10 and I’m 21 this year. It’s been a long time so I am going to miss him a great deal. He’s such a wonderful character to play. I find it challenging in parts, but on the whole it’s been easy because it was so brilliantly written. It was such a character that you could relate to. It wasn’t that difficult to get into character. I am going to miss it and I think everything I do from now on is going to be a little bit harder. At the same time, I think it’s time to move on and do something else and I can’t wait for that either. I’m happy and sad—a little bit of both.

DON'T MISS OUR CHAT WITH THE BOY WIZARD HIMSELF FROM THE SET OF DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1.