'The Queen's Gambit' fans can't believe character was played by Dudley Dursley actor from 'Harry Potter'

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Countless fans of the Netflix series The Queen's Gambit have taken to social media after realizing something pretty major.

Yep, the show's love interest Harry Beltik is played by Harry Melling - the same actor who portrayed the spoilt kid (AKA Dudley Dursley) in the Harry Potter franchise.

Harry Melling during the 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs' photocall at the 75th Venice International Film Festival at the Palazzo del Casino on August 31, 2018 in Venice, Italy | usage worldwide
Credit: 625

Many viewers of the series, which debuted on the streaming platform just last month (October 23), have expressed their disbelief at the revelation on Twitter.

One fan said: "I've been watching The Queen's Gambit for hours now and it just clicked that Harry Beltik is f**king Dudley Dursley I can't breathe."

Another added: "Just found out that Harry Beltik in #TheQueensGambit is the actor who played Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter series, and I’m supposed to ignore that for two more whole episodes???"

Related Video - Take a look at the trailer for Netflix's series The Queen's Gambit, starring Anya Taylor-Joy:

A third shared: "Watching The Queen's Gambit and it took me a while to realize why the guy who plays Beltik looks so familiar. It's Dudley Dursley."

A different user felt that their viewing experience was altered by the revelation: "My enjoyment of The Queen’s Gambit interrupted there by an abrupt Ep6 realization that love interest Harry Beltik is in fact, a grown up Dudley Dursley [sic]."

Yet another shocked fan took to Twitter to ask: "Was anyone gonna [sic] tell me that Harry Beltik in The Queen's Gambit was Dudley Dursley or was I just supposed to find that out on my own?"

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Melling said he felt "lucky" to be allowed to move on from the character that defined his early career as an actor.

"When you start as a child actor, I think there are certain stigmas you get from that, and I never really wanted to engage in them," he told the publication.

"I just wanted to continue doing work, and go into drama school as a sort of, not a conscious way of doing it, but maybe a way of bridging that gap."

Harry Melling attending the American Airlines Gala as part of the BFI London Film Festival at the Cineworld at Leicester Square, London, London.
Credit: 3772

Melling also told EW that he enjoys roles with an element of transformation to them.

"Changing up genre and characters, and trying to transform yourself into qualities of yourself that aren't necessarily on display, I always knew were things I wanted to play with," he said.