Telly 16th November 2020 by Denise Curtin

Did You Spot This Famous Harry Potter Star In The Queen’s Gambit?

Trending as the top watch in Ireland at the moment, everyone is talking about Netflix hit, The Queen's Gambit.

Thanks to the new drama miniseries The Queen’s Gambit, the world has become obsessed with chess and the fascinating and unconventional tale of a chess child prodigy, struggling with addiction to become the world’s greatest chess player.

Over the course of seven episodes,  we get to see Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Jay) grow to succeed in a male-dominated world. Having been told since she became a child orphan that “girls don’t play chess”, Beth proves all her doubters wrong, as she takes on stiff competition from around the world, growing to become obsessed with getting ahead.

Set in the ’60s in America, although Beth Harmon’s particular story isn’t actually based on real life events, the story feels quite true to life, and New York Times chess columnist Dylan Loeb McClain even congratulated the show for achieving “painful authenticity” in its portrayal of chess culture during this era.

Throughout the show, we see Beth play several games of chess, taking on competition that not only fears defeat when surrounded by an audience, but especially when their opponent is a female.

One of these men in particular is Harry Beltik (Harry Melling), who Beth plays for the Kentucky state title; a moment which cements her stardom, Beth makes headlines for this victory, leading her on her path to becoming the best in the world.

But eagle-eyed viewers might have noticed a thing or two about Harry Beltik when watching the series… like the fact he looked so familiar.

And this is because the actor, Harry Melling was a major child star, playing the role of Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter film series.

Starring in five of the Harry Potter films dating from 2001 to 2010, Harry also went on to star in The Keeper and The Devil All The Time to name a few, but his role in The Queen’s Gambit is certainly one that has made fans do a double take, realising that the recognise his face.

Now, 31-years-old, Harry’s role is small but powerful in TQG, with fans sharing their shock online at discovering he was once Dudley Dursley.


You can now watch all episodes of The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix.

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