The TV world appears to have crowned its newest on-screen villain. This time, he’s just 14 years old.
Thankfully, Lox Pratt says he’s nothing like Jack, the arrogant, privileged and cruel egomaniac he plays in the latest adaptation of William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies,” launching today on Netflix. Nor is he like Draco Malfoy, the arrogant, privileged and devious bully he’s playing in HBO’s upcoming “Harry Potter” series, now in production with season 1 set for a Christmas launch.
“But baddies are just more fun to play — and there’s just so much more you can do,” he tells Variety. “It’s better than being stuck playing the good guy forever.”
As it happens, Pratt did originally audition for the “Lord of the Flies” good guy — Ralph, Golding’s representation of civilization, democracy and order in his allegorical novel about societal collapse and humanity’s inherent capacity for evil.
Having heard about the new series (from Sony Pictures Television’s Eleven Films, the BBC and writer Jack Thorne) from a friend of his mum’s who was giving him a lift to a drama group, Pratt — then around 11 — sent in a tape.
“But I got a recall for Jack,” he says. “They made me read for a lot of people, but Jack was the one that I was most compelled to, because he was so different to me. I felt like I could give him a good amount of depth and could do him justice.”
The casting team — led by the “lovely” star-finder extraordinaire Nina Gold — clearly thought the same, with Thorne’s writing having broadened the world around Jack beyond his lurch towards savagery to show elements of his upbringing.
“He’d built these other layers onto him about why he is how he is and what he gets worried about,” says Pratt. “So I felt I could make the audience feel more connected to him, because it’s rough if he’s just this one-dimensional person you can’t relate to in any way.”
Lox Pratt (R) with co-star David McKenna in ‘Lord of the Flies’
J Redza/Eleven/Sony Pictures Tel
Shot in Malaysia in late 2024 and released in the U.K. earlier this year, the four-part “Lord of the Flies” —— in which there’s an entire episode dedicated to Jack — has already proved to be a critical smash-hit before it hits U.S. TVs, hailed as one of the finest adaptations of the classic. For his first ever on-screen role, Pratt — along with many of his young co-stars — has now been submitted for Emmy consideration. The “Adolescence” comparisons with Owen Cooper have already been made (Pratt is presenting with co-star Winston Sawyers at next weekend’s BAFTA TV awards, where Cooper is expected to complete his record-breaking collection of awards over the last year).
The youngster, born and raised in the south English country of Cornwall, says he’d “like to think” he’s taken it all in his stride, but isn’t sure. Not that he’s had much time to dwell on the success of his debut, having left the beaches of South-East Asia and headed straight to an extended stay at Hogwarts.
Given Malfoy’s practically iconic platinum hair, it’s easy to think why Pratt, with his curly blonde locks, was the perfect choice to take over from Tom Felton, especially having already honed his malevolent energy in front of the camera so perfectly. Pratt claims the directors (Marc Munden for “Flies” and Mark Mylod for “Potter”) did know each other, but says there were still “a lot of screen tests” to get the role.
The Wizarding World’s TV reboot is giving each “Harry Potter” book a full season, meaning that Pratt’s Malfoy is being offered a much broader palette than the films (in which he appeared for just 30 minutes in total). “He’s still very much Draco, but I’m putting my own spin on him,” he says. “He’s definitely got more layers.”
On the surface, it’s easy to consider Jack and Draco to be very similar when it comes to their antagonistic traits. But Pratt notes that, with their characters having been expanded beyond previous on-screen interpretations, it’s “nice to see the differences” between them.
“I think they’re two very different kinds of sadness and meanness. Draco’s loved, but he’s got this horrible, crippling family pressure. He’s not quite who he wants to be the entire time and can’t live up to his father’s expectations. Whereas I felt with Jack that he got his own thing going on. He’s just unloved and that’s never been a thing that he’s needed.”
Lox Pratt as Draco Malfoy in “Harry Potter”
Having been kept mostly under an invisibility cloak of secrecy, the first trailer for the “Harry Potter” series was recently unveiled by HBO Max. In a blink-and-you’ll miss it moment as every key character is introduced, Pratt’s Malfoy was seen in one shot pulling his wand out (presumably to intimidate an off-screen Harry).
“I’m glad they kept it quite minimal and it wasn’t too exposing,” says Lox (who acknowledges that there was a “flood of messages” after the trailer was released, but was happy that his friends showed their enthusiasm without going overboard). “And I’m glad it was very quick-as-a-flash. I’m excited for people to see it because he’s so different to how Draco was in the films.”
Having gone from one iconic literary baddie to another, Pratt admits that although he does enjoy playing such villainous roles he might try something else next time. “I don’t think I’d take another bad guy role straight after this,” he claims.
But with seven terms of Hogwarts to get through, it could be the best part of a decade before that happens. It’s something that his predecessor Felton knows only too well, having played the part from 2001 to 2011. The original Malfoy Jnr recently revealed he’d reached out to Pratt with a note with his phone number should he need a word of encouragement. While he said he tried to avoid offering any advice, Felton did urge Pratt to “have as much fun as possible, take as many pictures as you can, teal as many props as you can — they’ll be worth a fortune.”
Has he followed any of this?
Says Pratt: “Yeah, I probably can’t reveal how many props I’ve taken.”