Johnny Flynn, the 43-year-old actor cast as Lucius Malfoy in HBO's upcoming Harry Potter series, told an interviewer that every private school in Britain should be destroyed, a remark rooted in his own boarding school days but carrying a familiar whiff of elite hypocrisy.
Flynn made the comments in an interview with Radio Times while promoting the second season of the Paramount+ crime drama MobLand and discussing his approach to the villainous Malfoy patriarch. The South African-born British actor, who attended the Pilgrims' School, a cathedral school in Winchester, England, on a music scholarship as a young child, described his time there as deeply damaging.
He wants the entire institution abolished. Not reformed, not improved, razed. "I think they should all be burnt to the ground, I don't think private schools should exist," Flynn told Radio Times. He added: "It was quite traumatic for me."
Flynn has spoken publicly before about unhappy boarding school experiences. He has said he was bullied, developed nervous tics, and later sought therapy to process what he calls "boarding school syndrome." He attended the Pilgrims' School on a music scholarship, picking up the violin as a child, before moving to Bedales, a progressive school with a different reputation. He eventually trained as an actor.
So the man calling for the destruction of private schools got his start at one, on someone else's dime.
The Pilgrims' School responded with a measured statement. A spokesperson said the school was "saddened to hear of anyone who recalls a difficult experience during their time at school," adding that the institution "has evolved significantly over the years" and that "safeguarding and pastoral approaches are continually reviewed and strengthened."
"We 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."
The school also noted that "the wellbeing of every pupil remains at the heart of school life."
Flynn said his personal history shapes how he plans to portray Lucius Malfoy, the aristocratic wizard and Death Eater originally played by Jason Isaacs in the film franchise. Flynn praised Isaacs, calling him "brilliant" and crediting him with underlining "the themes of racism" in the character, but signaled a different interpretation.
"Not to denounce his version, but I can't play a character unless I empathise with them," Flynn said. He described Malfoy as a product of institutional cruelty passed down through generations.
"He was one of those kids bullied in his school, and he's now turned into the bully, so he doesn't know another way. That's how I want to play him because I know those people quite well. On the one hand, they were the people that bullied me, they were the abusers, but at some point, they were the abused. So, nobody's outright good or bad in the world."
It is a more sympathetic reading of a character J.K. Rowling wrote as an unapologetic bigot. Whether audiences accept it remains to be seen.
Flynn also waded into the long-running British debate over privately educated actors dominating the industry. "The posh boys taking over things is such an important conversation to have," he said. He named Eddie Redmayne and Benedict Cumberbatch, both privately educated, as actors who have faced criticism over their backgrounds but called them "the nicest people I know."
Flynn characterized their position this way: "They would say, 'Yeah, we don't want to be the only ones here.'" He acknowledged the tension but stopped well short of applying his burn-it-down philosophy to his own career, which launched from the very institutions he condemns.
His MobLand co-star Tom Hardy and the show's executive producer Guy Ritchie were also noted as privately educated. Flynn did not direct his abolition rhetoric at them.
The HBO Harry Potter series, with Flynn as Lucius Malfoy, is set to premiere on Christmas Day. Dominic McLaughlin will play Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton takes on Hermione Granger, and Alastair Stout plays Ron Weasley. John Lithgow is cast as Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Professor McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, and Nick Frost as Hagrid. The first season will adapt Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
Flynn's remarks land in a familiar pattern: a successful person who benefited from an institution turns around and demands its destruction for everyone else. He received a music scholarship to a cathedral school, trained as an actor, built a career that includes roles in the 2020 film Emma, the series Lovesick and Ripley, and the film One Life, and now headlines an HBO franchise that will pay him handsomely.
None of that happened in a vacuum. The private education he wants abolished gave him his first foothold.
Flynn says therapy helped him. Good. Personal trauma is real, and no one should dismiss what a child experienced. But "burn it all down" is not a policy argument. It is a slogan, one that ignores the millions of families who choose private schools precisely because they want better for their children than what the state provides.
When a man who owes his career to a private school scholarship calls for every private school to be destroyed, the contradiction does not need a therapist to diagnose.
