The Harry Potter franchise ruled the 2000s – first as J.K. Rowling’s hit novel series became a worldwide phenomenon, then as Warner Bros. movie series struck gold at the gobal box office. However, Rowling’s books (and the films based on them) didn’t wrap up everything with a neat little bow: the fates of certain characters like the Malfoy family were left somewhat open-ended by Harry Potter‘s final flash-forward reveal. Well, while the books and movies may not have spelled out the fate of the Malfoys in full, but isn’t stopping Harry Potter‘s Lucius Malfoy actor Jason Isaacs from offering his own breakdown of where the character ended up.
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“I was pretty sure of what had happened to him. I don’t know if anybody else needs to agree because that’s the fun of it, isn’t it?” Isaacs told SYFY WIRE in a recent interview. “I think he was broken in Azkaban completely, and he was broken even by having to go there because the dream that he had held out for a long time of being Voldemort’s right-hand man and being celebrated as having kept the flame alive. [That notion] was shattered pretty quickly when Voldemort came back.”
In Harry Potter canon, Lucius Malfoy was arrested with a group of Voldemort’s Death Eaters in 1996. He spent a year in jail before Voldemort broke him out, for the climatic battles of the Second Wizarding War. However, Voldemort never treats Lucius or the Malfoy’s with the same level of respect after the breakout, and in the final battle, the Malfoys defected from Voldemort’s ranks. That last-minute change of heart kept the Malfoy family out of Azkaban when Voldemort was defeated; we know from the flash-forward that Draco eventually marries Astoria Greengrass and gives Lucius a grandson, Scorpius Malfoy.
Jason Isaacs sets up a lot of inferences about what Lucius’ character became after Azkaban, and details of the flash-forward era pretty much confirm them. Basically, the falling out with Voldemort broke Lucius Malfoy’s entire supremacist belief system; it’s noted in the epilogue to Harry Potter that Scorpius Malfoy isn’t raised in the elitist “pure blood” philosophies of his dad and grandfather, which suggests that Lucius may have actually learned the error of his ways – or at the very least, became docile enough to just be a doting grandfather, rather cult leader willing to brainwash his progeny into the service of evil. It’s a nice little ending to Harry and Draco’s rivalry, where Harry and co. “win” while still finding common ground with their schoolmate.
The Harry Potter series will continue with Fantastic Beasts 3 in theaters next year.
