Timothy Spall Of The Last Bus Compares Peter Pettigrew's Harry Potter Ending In The Books And Movies

On if he wished he could have explored the book's more nuanced ending for Peter, or if he likes Peter's comedic death in the film, Spall said, "Well, funny you should say that because there [was] a big debate about whether the hand strangling itself was going to be pretty close to 'Monty Python.' Do you know what I mean?" He noted how goofy the book's ending could play out onscreen, adding, "Or something out of a... Where you read it narratively, and you have all that poetic underpainting that you are talking about there, [it's] very difficult to show that, somebody with a rogue hand [killing themselves without looking like] Inspector Clouseau."

When it comes to evil characters in the "Harry Potter" universe, Peter doesn't necessarily fall into that unambiguous category. "One of the things I always liked about Peter Pettigrew is that he is reprehensible, and he is a weak, cowardly, devious character, but there's also a little [bit] of possible redemption about him. Anybody who is driven to do things through weakness is not doing it through pure evil — they're doing it through self-survival," he said. "I think he is very much from that area, bullied and called the fat kid and the "so [and so]" kid and a lump of a boy. [He's] always the butt of the jokes of the rest of them and ultimately ends up being one of the most powerful, albeit via his nefarious deeds." In a way, Peter is powerful. He survives far longer than most of his former friends, after all.