Summary

• Goyle actor Josh Herdman had to drop out of filming for action sequences in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" due to an arm injury.
• Crabbe and Goyle have a more significant role in the books compared to the movies, but their screen time was reduced to focus on the main characters' arcs.
• The upcoming Harry Potter TV series on HBO Max will provide a second chance for new actors to explore the true nature of Crabbe and Goyle's relationship and give them more screen time.

Henchman Gregory Goyle is almost as memorable of a presence as Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movie adaptations, so many viewers noticed that one of the Crabbe and Goyle actors seemed to vanish midway through Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Luckily, there is an answer to the mystery of Goyle's disappearance. Alongside Crabbe, Slytherin student Gregory Goyle is an instantly recognizable lesser villain from the series. A gormless bully who accompanies the slimy Draco Malfoy everywhere, Goyle is his muscle and plays both an imposing presence and comic relief at different points throughout the series.

Though there were recastings in the Harry Potter series when necessary, like Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort and Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore, the movies tried to avoid switching out actors. This made the Goyle changes in the Harry Potter movies hard to miss. However, it's especially noticeable that the Crabbe and Goyle actors aren't present for one of Malfoy’s most iconic scenes when he is punched by Hermione. There is a reason for their absence, and it's to do with behind-the-scenes problems while filming the 3rd Harry Potter movie.

Goyle Disappeared Because Of An Injury

The Goyle Actor Broke His Arm Filming Prisoner Of Azkaban

The reason the Goyle actor Josh Herdman doesn't appear much in The Prisoner of Azkaban is that he injured his arm and, as a result, was forced to drop out of filming for action sequences. A Slytherin student referred to as Pike (Game of Thrones actor Bronson Webb) replaced the character of Goyle for the rest of the movie, and Crabbe and Goyle don't appear much in The Prisoner of Azkaban as a result. Herdman returned to the role for the remaining films, unlike his co-star Jamie Waylett, who left later in the Harry Potter franchise when he was arrested for marijuana possession.

Since Harry Potter's end, Goyle actor Josh Herdman has gone on to risk more than a filming-limiting broken limb by becoming an MMA fighter. Despite this career change, his onscreen roles have not dried up, with the actor appearing in the 2018 movie Robin Hood and the TV spy thriller series Alex Rider. Unfortunately, the injured arm wasn’t his last scrape with peril, as in 2015 he was also thrown from a motorbike in an accident which fortunately left him without serious injuries.

Crabbe And Goyle Are Much More Significant In The Books

Crabbe And Goyle Vanishing Could Have Been Much More Noticeable

While Crabbe and Goyle are very much Malfoy’s lackeys on both the screen and the page, their roles are more significant in the books. The screen time they received in the Harry Potter movies is a reduced role — maybe not ideal for the Crabbe and Goyle actors, but not unheard of when it comes to book-to-screen adaptations. There’s only so much time allotted for a movie, so some scenes that readers might love get cut in moving the story to the screen. If a character isn’t deemed significant to the main character’s arc, those characters get diminished stories as well. That’s exactly what happened.

In the Harry Potter novels, Crabbe and Goyle act as a window into who Malfoy is. He’s the Hogwarts equivalent of the school bully because his family is wealthy and powerful, and Crabbe and Goyle’s families have a dark history with the Malfoys. The boys form a natural alliance, but with Malfoy having one of the most powerful families in Harry Potter to fall back on, he’s the one who has all the power in their pseudo-friendship. Harry and Ron find themselves crossing paths with Crabbe and Goyle a lot more in the books than they do in the movie, and each encounter allows them to learn more about the duo and Malfoy.

If the Crabbe and Goyle actors had been more available, that might have been true in the movies as well, but it’s likely some of their scenes still would have been cut short. As it stands, Herdman did, at the very least, get one big scene. It just happened to be the death scene that belonged to Crabbe in the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows novel. Jamie Waylett didn't appear in the Deathly Hallows movies though, due to the aforementioned marijuana possession charges.

In the novel, when Draco and his allies face off against Harry in the Room of Requirement, it’s after the Malfoys have fallen out of favor with the other Death Eaters. Crabbe finally feels like they’re on an even footing, and he stands up to the boy who has been giving him orders all through school, using lethal force against Harry. His fiendfyre curse burns out of control, burning much of the contents in the Room of Requirement, including the Horcrux Harry is after. Crabbe loses his life in the fire as well. That entire sequence is adapted for the movie but with Herdman’s Goyle in place of Waylett’s Crabbe.

HBO's Harry Potter Series Can Rectify The Movie Crabbe And Goyle Snub

The Next Crabbe And Goyle Actors Deserve More Screen Time

Warner Bros. is collaborating with HBO Max to bring a highly faithful Harry Potter adaptation to the small screen, with the series essentially being rebooted as a Max series with each respective season focusing on one of J.K. Rowling's books. This means that characters, like Crabbe and Goyle, are getting a second chance at deeper exploration. While this also means new Crabbe and Goyle actors, the opportunity is finally being given to investigate the true nature of the Slytherin trio's relationship, and how that inevitably changes as Voldemort rises to power and the Malfoys fall from his favor.

In terms of what happened to Goyle in Harry Potter, his end in the books isn't chronicled outside surviving the Room of Requirement fiendfyre incident. The Harry Potter television reboot has the chance to correct both Crabbe and Goyle's endings, as well as play out all the extra moments the two face the golden trio in the books. While they are background characters, the new Crabbe and Goyle actors will have a better chance at bringing the books' minor antagonists to life. Maybe this time, Goyle will be around when Hermione delivers one of the best Prisoner of Azkaban moments.

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  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

  Director:

  Alfonso Cuarón

  Release Date:

  2004-03-01

  Cast:

  Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Gary Oldman, Robbie Coltrane, Michael Gambon, Richard Griffiths, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Maggie Smith, Timothy Spall, Emma Thompson

  Writers:

  Steve Kloves

  Rating:

  pg-13

  Runtime:

  144 Minutes

  Genres:

  Adventure, Fantasy

  Budget:

  $130 Million

  Studio(s):

  Warner Bros. Pictures, Heyday Films, 1492 Pictures

  Distributor(s):

  Warner Bros. Pictures

  Sequel(s):

  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2

  prequel(s):

  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

  Franchise(s):

  Harry Potter

  Story By:

  J.K. Rowling