Saoirse Ronan Recalls Auditioning for Luna Lovegood Role in ‘Harry Potter’: “It Was the Coolest Thing Ever”

Saoirse Ronan is looking back on the role that got away.

While appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday, the actress was asked by the late-night host if there were any past roles she wished she got to play.

“There’s things that you’ll pass on and then they come out and you think, ‘Oh, God, that was a misstep on my part,’” Ronan said. “But I think the one that stayed with me over the years was — I didn’t say no to it, I just didn’t get the part. I lost, again; it’s a running theme for me.” Earlier in the interview, Ronan and Kimmel had joked about how the actress has lost in the Oscar race despite being nominated four times thus far.

She went on to reveal, “But I had gone up for Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter years ago. Because it was like the Irish character, so they got everyone Irish in, like half of Ireland come and audition.”

Ronan explained that she knew she wouldn’t get the part “because I was too young, but I got to read out a scene that was gonna be in Harry Potter, and it was the coolest thing ever.”

Evanna Lynch would play the Luna Lovegood role who is introduced in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The film released in 2007 which was the same year Ronan’s film Atonement came out. Ronan earned her first Oscar nomination for the role when she was 13.

A Harry Potter television series is moving forward on Max with an expected 2026 debut. The series has named Francesca Gardiner as its writer and showrunner with Mark Mylod directing multiple episodes.

HBO described the series as a “faithful adaptation” of author J.K. Rowling’s best-sellers about the young wizard: “The series will feature a new cast to lead a new generation of fandom, full of the fantastic detail and much-loved characters Harry Potter fans have loved for over 25 years.”