You probably haven’t heard of Lox Pratt. Not yet, anyway. 

But the 14-year-old is starring in two of the most highly anticipated TV shows over the coming year, most notably as Draco Malfoy in HBO’s celebrity-studded Harry Potter series set to premiere in early 2027, where he’ll be acting alongside the likes of John Lithgow, Katherine Parkinson, Nick Frost and Paapa Essiedu. With a predicted seven series (one per book) running over the period of a decade, Pratt will no doubt become a household name for nostalgic millennials and fresher-faced fans alike.

However, Pratt and I are speaking to discuss another impressive project to add to his filmography: the first ever TV adaptation of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, directed by Marc Munden and written by the renowned Jack Thorne of Adolescence fame. The four-part BBC series follows a group of schoolboys who, after surviving a tragic plane crash, find themselves fighting for survival on a desert island. While they attempt to govern themselves, electing the charismatic Ralph as their leader and establishing various rules, the boys quickly descend into violence and savagery.  

Pratt plays Jack, the bullish and manipulative choir leader who is desperate to exert dominance over the boys and turn their civilised democracy into a tribal dictatorship. With his floppy golden curls and ice-cold sneers, you can already spot the delicious contempt Pratt will bring to his portrayal of Hogwart’s favourite bleach-blonde Slytherin.

What’s more remarkable, however, is his vulnerability: Pratt brings a tender empathy that slips seamlessly through the cracks of Jack’s hardy persona – an extraordinary feat for such a young actor. But perhaps we forget that we’re living in a golden age of young British talent: Pratt may be following in the footsteps of 16-year-old Owen Cooper, also a Jack Thorne alum who recently won an Emmy and Golden Globe for his portrayal of a teenage murder suspect in Adolescence. Meanwhile, fellow franchise actor Alfie Williams, 15, is making headlines for his lead role in the 28 Years Later trilogy. 

Indeed, when I chat to Pratt the evening after the Lord of the Flies premiere, it’s easy to see the drive and determination he has to excel in his chosen career. While most teenagers might spend their time scrolling through TikTok or playing video games, Pratt’s watching interviews with directors he admires, or viewing arthouse films that feature his favourite actors. It’s clear he has some big goals, and this year, he might be a significant step closer to achieving them.

Here, Lox Pratt talks to 1883 about filming in Malaysia, the series he’s watching at the moment, what he really thought of Golding’s book, and what we can expect from the new Draco Malfoy. 

Hi Lox, how are you? How was the Lord of the Flies premiere last night?

It was great, thanks, it was really fun. It was up at BFI Southbank and I got to see Jack Thorne again which was cool after the Adolescence stuff. So it was nice to catch up and see everyone again.

Well thank you for taking time to speak after a late night – I’ve been really excited for this interview because you’re starring in two of the biggest TV shows right now, and at such a young age. Were you always into acting? 

I’ve always loved storytelling. That’s always been my sort of thing, through film, dancing, writing. But I think film’s probably the [medium] that I feel most connected to. 

So I knew I wanted to be in the industry, but I never quite knew how I was going to get into it. When I got Flies, I was like, this is absolutely perfect. That was when I thought “I can do this”. 

It’s a proper role that I can sink my teeth into, that I’m passionate about. That was probably a big moment. 

And how did you get the part? Was it a lengthy audition process?

I was part of a drama group at the time, and it was an open casting call, I didn’t have an agent or anything. I think my mate’s mum saw it, and said to my mum “I think Lox would be really good for it”. I read the scripts [and thought] this is insane. This is brilliant. 

I actually didn’t know what Lord of the Flies was at the time. I picked up the book and I watched the film and thought this is an absolutely amazing story. So I taped for Ralph [because] Ralph seems quite cool. And then I got started with Jack. And I was like, this is brilliant, this is exactly what I want to do. I had a couple of chats with Marc about how we were going to play it if I got the part – I think he got his rough cast at that point. And yeah, we based him off of Malcolm McDowell, a bit of Tommy Shelby. 

Jack’s an interesting character isn’t he? The thing that struck me is he has this super confident persona; he’s trying to be masculine. He wants to be a man, but deep down he’s scared. How did you prepare for that, and how were you able to balance the two sides of that character?

One thing that I really enjoyed was how we have these really brilliant cracks when we see Jack in his vulnerable state. But I think the way I tapped into that…it wasn’t actually finding something that made me feel shameful, but it was sort of a hypothetical shame I had to use, rather than something that genuinely changed me, otherwise I’d be in a really bad state for the rest of the day. 

I had to tap into a place that I knew wasn’t real. I think one thing I learned from Marc was that you have to make sure that you’re thinking what the character is thinking. It’s not just looking over that way and winking at that person. You have to genuinely feel what the character’s feeling and thinking, because then it’s gonna show on your face.

Having to tap into shame and that darkness there must have been intense. How did you decompress and come out of that headspace?

I mean, we were in Malaysia, we were in this brilliant resort, and the sea was warm. We’d get in the sea, we’d wash away the characters, we’d wash away the day. We were all mates, we all hung out the whole time. And it’s a good full stop at the end of the day; we were done, we played the character, and then we’d wake up the next morning and go to work and do the same thing. I think we would have struggled a lot more if we hadn’t had that, or if the sea was freezing. 

I usually live in Cornwall most of the time, so the sea is very grounding to me – that’s always been my thing, and to have that in Malaysia was such a brilliant gift, because I knew that I needed something like that.

If you had to pick between living in sunny Malaysia or Cornwall…?

That’s so tricky. I feel like I’ll always have a deep connection to Cornwall. But Malaysia in short bursts is just brilliant. I did get a little bit sick of curry for breakfast every day, but yeah, apart from that, everything about it was amazing.

You also talked about hanging out with the other boys in the series. There are quite some intimate and emotional scenes with your fellow actors. Did you have some time before shooting to get to know each other, or did you all descend on Malaysia and start filming straight away?

So we had about a month of rehearsals before flying out to Kuala Lumpur. And that was an absolutely golden time, because we got to know each other quite a lot. And we all would chat to each other about what we were feeling insecure about on the project, or what we were worried about.

In Malaysia, we stayed in this massive hotel, it was absolutely enormous. And there was this pool on top of the roof, which we’d all go to when we got back. We’d all sit up there, go swimming, jump in, try and push each other in. And that felt really, really special. 

On the first rehearsal, there were some of us that were silly, some of us that were taking it really seriously because it was our first massive acting job. I think after a while, you get to the same point; we were on the same page. That was really nice. 

And are you still in touch with some of the other actors?

Yeah, 100 percent, they’re in my messages most of the time. I hang out with David [McKenna] and Ike [Talbut] quite a lot, which is nice. I like going round David’s house and I went on the set of what he’s doing at the moment, which is cool.

You mentioned before you initially wanted to play Ralph, but ended up really enjoying playing Jack. What was it about Jack in the script that intrigued you?

I think there’s a level of, oh, he gets to do cool stunts. But there’s also another level of wanting to bring out a part of yourself that you wouldn’t otherwise want to show. With Jack, I saw myself in so many different ways; I do feel like I’m a bit rebellious sometimes. 

When I originally read the book, I thought Jack’s a little bit one dimensional, but when I read the script [I thought] they gave him more space to breathe. I read an article with Jack Thorne where he said a lot of people see Lord of the Flies as William Golding trying to expose boys. But I don’t think that’s true. I think he cares about them, and he wants to understand them, not expose them in any way, shape or form. So [Thorne] just needs to show everyone it’s done with subtlety and care. And I really hope people see that in this adaptation. 

Without giving away any spoilers, was there something specific in the script that diverged away from the book that you thought was really well done?

I think Jack’s relationship with Simon was left out of the book a lot. I think they barely interact apart from Jack saying one thing about him being weak when he faints, or something like that in the book. 

I really loved that [in the script], they just get each other, and they understand each other on a really different level. But there’s also a part of me that thinks he doesn’t really want to accept that he was so close to Simon, because he’s ostracised by the group so much. So I think that’s really interesting. I think he’s very ashamed of his relationship with Simon. 

What sort of productions were you in before Lord of the Flies?

I’ve done pantomimes, and I directed quite a lot of little short films. I actually did a short film a couple months before I went out to Malaysia, called Three Blue Boats, which was quite fun. It wasn’t a massive film. It was nice to get the hang of being on a film set and rocking up, having lunch, going on set, waiting around, playing dumb card games with your crew and cast and stuff. And I thought that was such a perfect way to start things off, and it eased me into Malaysia so I wouldn’t feel so shell-shocked when I landed. 

Is that something you’d want to do in the future – directing or writing?

I don’t really know. I think I might want to direct a couple and write a few [films], but it’s all about quality; if I read the script and it’s absolutely amazing. If I feel like we need to tell this story, then definitely. But I don’t feel like it’s something that I need to go into too much right now.

You’re also playing Draco Malfoy in the new Harry Potter series coming up next year, and I know there’s very little that can be revealed. I assume you, like most of the future audience, have seen the films or read the books so there’s a certain expectation. Has there been something in the series so far that has surprised you?

I think with this adaptation, you get to see so much more than the books. [The books] are very much over Harry’s shoulder, which is great, and that’s how they played the film as well. And I think Francesca [Gardiner] and Mark [Mylod] have been audible about this in their interviews, there’s just so much more that you get to see. You get to see all the teachers in their little rooms. You get to see Draco at home. I won’t spoil too much about that, but there are some brilliant scenes at home where you start to get an insight into how he is.

Similar to Flies, I was grateful that we had the same freedom to explore these characters. Because in the films, Draco is sort of 2D; he is the sneery villain. I feel like there’s so much more – you need to understand why. And you see little glints of it in the film with Lucius and stuff. I think [the series] is really brilliant. I can’t wait to bring it to the screen. 

Is there something in particular you’re watching at the moment?

I watched Captain Fantastic recently. That’s really good. I’m a big fan of Viggo Mortensen, and I feel that’s a really beautiful film, and I can relate to that quite a lot because I’m homeschooled, so that was cool. I don’t know why but I still like Friends. It’s so old, but so funny.

The fact it’s leaving Netflix is so sad!

Well it’s got to make way for the new Harry Potter, doesn’t it? [laughs]

Has there been a series or film that made you realise you wanted to go into the acting industry?

This didn’t make me want to become a filmmaker as I only saw it recently, but I saw One Battle After Another and it made me sit back in my chair and go, wow. I was sitting there going, what have I watched? It was amazing at the same time, seeing it with my grandpa and my brother. The acting is brilliant. The cinematography keeps you [engaged], when they’re going over the hills, with the cars and everything. That kept me on the edge of my seat.

You’re only 14 and have a lot ahead of you. Are there any directors or actors you really want to work with in the future?

I really want to work with James Cameron. I think he’d be so interesting to work with, and maybe Chloé Zhao. I saw an interview with them together at [Hollywood Reporter’s] The Roundtable. [Chloé’s] talking about the way that she works, how she directs actors and stuff, and it’s so different to how most directors work. They usually say, “Oh, can you take that line again? Can you say it with this, more like this, like this, and emphasise on that”. And she keeps them in the moment, and doesn’t [interfere] unless she really has to. She doesn’t go, “can you take that line again?” She seems like a really fascinating person. Even if I don’t get to work with her, I would just love to meet her and chat about it. 

I’m sure you will very soon. Thank you so much for your time Lox, I know it’s been a crazy week with the premiere and with filming. I’m really looking forward to seeing where you go next – it must be crazy looking at what’s going to happen in the next few months, right?

I think it’s gonna be weird when Flies comes out because I’ve got no idea how the world’s gonna take it at all. I’m excited to see what happens, and just ride the wave. I hope that people see how much work went into it. I think some people will get it, and some people won’t. And that’s fine. That’s kind of how it is. But I’m just excited to see what the hell happens.

All episodes of Lord of the Flies will be on BBC iPlayer from 6am on Sunday 8 February, and BBC One will air the series weekly from 9pm that night.

Interview Anna Jane Begley

Photography Stefan Bertin