From Hogwarts to the Sex Offenders Register: The Harry Potter Star Whose Career Collapsed
Once poised for Wizarding World stardom as Abernathy in Fantastic Beasts, Kevin Guthrie saw his ascent collapse after a 2021 sexual assault conviction.
Franchise careers don’t usually vanish this fast. Kevin Guthrie went from a steady run of roles to total silence, and the pivot point wasn’t a tough box office weekend — it was a conviction that nuked his prospects overnight.
From Fantastic Beasts to nothing at all
Guthrie, a Scottish actor who’d already built some momentum with Sunshine on Leith (2013) and Sunset Song (2015), landed in the Wizarding World as Abernathy in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) and came back for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018). It looked like textbook franchise escalation — more visibility, more work, more runway.
That ended in 2021, when he was convicted of sexual assault and placed on the sex offenders register. The career fallout was immediate: projects stopped, industry ties evaporated, and his screen presence disappeared overnight. He was released in 2022 and hasn’t returned to film or TV since. His IMDb page has basically been frozen in place, and any trace of franchise momentum is gone. Among actors linked to the Wizarding World, his drop-off is about as abrupt as it gets.
How fast it unraveled
- 2013: Sunshine on Leith
- 2015: Sunset Song
- 2016: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (as Abernathy)
- 2018: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
- 2021: Convicted of sexual assault and placed on the sex offenders register; career activity halts
- 2022: Released; no return to screen work
- 2022–present: No new credits, no public projects, no convention circuit or cameos
The internet made a comeback basically impossible
The online response was immediate and relentless. Once news of the 2021 sentencing hit, social feeds flooded with the story and then kept resurfacing it. Algorithms recirculated the headlines, screenshots kept receipts, and search results locked his name to the conviction. That’s not the kind of thing you ‘take a break’ from and slide back into work later.
Even actors in the wider Harry Potter orbit who’ve dealt with heavy controversy — Ezra Miller, for one — stayed attached to big productions for years. Guthrie didn’t. Part of that is timing and context: the Wizarding World has been navigating its own headaches for a while, which means there’s even less appetite to invite more PR blowback. For casting teams and studios, his name isn’t just a risk — it’s a guarantee that the discourse restarts the second his casting hits the trades.
Why the story still pops up
Every time Fantastic Beasts comes up — especially after Eddie Redmayne said the series is basically done — Guthrie’s case tends to get dredged back into circulation. In a media ecosystem where online narrative outweighs traditional publicity, that persistent association is a brick wall. Plenty of actors ride out bad press and pivot. This one hasn’t faded.
Where things stand
As of now, Guthrie hasn’t booked film or TV work since his 2022 release. Other Wizarding World alums still show up in supporting roles, at fan events, or in random media cameos. He’s off the grid entirely. For a guy who had a clear franchise lane, the lights went out fast — and they’ve stayed off.
What’s your read — was this downfall inevitable, or could a different industry moment have led to a different outcome? Drop your take in the comments.
All Harry Potter movies are streaming on Max.