Saoirse Ronan says losing Luna Lovegood role in “Harry Potter” has 'stayed with me over the years'

Saoirse Ronan says losing Luna Lovegood role in “Harry Potter” has 'stayed with me over the years'

"I was too young," says the Oscar nominee.

No spell could make Saoirse Ronan forget that she missed the train ride to Hogwarts.

During an appearance on Thursday's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the Oscar-nominated star looked back on the roles she wished she had gotten. Losing out on the part of the eccentric Luna Lovegood, played by fellow Irish actress Evanna Lynch, in Harry Potter is one that has "stayed with me," said Ronan.

Related: With The Outrun, Saoirse Ronan reminds us why she's one of the greatest working actresses

"There's things that you'll pass on and then they come out and you think, 'Oh, God, that was a misstep on my part,'" said Ronan. "But I think the one that stayed with me over the years was — I didn't say no to it, I just didn't get the part. I lost, again. It's a running theme for me —  I had gone up for Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter years ago."

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

"It was the Irish character, so they got everyone Irish," added Ronan. "Like half of Ireland came and auditioned." Ronan conceded that she knew she would not get the part "because I was too young," but to be able to read for a scene was still "the coolest thing ever."

Lynch's Luna Lovegood was introduced in the fifth installment of the film franchise Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, released in 2007. It debuted in the same year as Ronan's gutting war romance Atonement, in which she starred as the younger sister of co-lead Keira Knightley. The role garnered Ronan her first Oscar nomination at just the age of 13.

<p>Vera Anderson/WireImage; Everett</p> Saoirse Ronan; Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood in 'Harry Potter'

Vera Anderson/WireImage; Everett

Saoirse Ronan; Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood in 'Harry Potter'

Related: 2025 Oscar nominations predictions: See contenders for Best Picture and acting, from Angelina Jolie to Colman Domingo

Ronan, who has been nominated four times, is once again generating Oscar buzz for her new drama The Outrun, in which she stars as a woman working to come to terms with her troubled past. Speaking with Kimmel, Ronan joked about being "four times the loser" at the awards show and how her husband, Slow Horses nominee Jack Lowden, also recently lost at this year's Emmys.

"We're a house of losers," she joked. "I think I've gotten so used to losing now that I said to him, 'OK, your category is like second one up, so when you lose, we'll go to the bar — 'cause inevitably that's what's going to happen — and we'll get our popcorn and we'll have a great night and it won't matter that we've both lost.'"

As for whether Lowden took offense at the presumption, "He knew he was going to lose," said Ronan with a laugh. "We have very low expectations for ourselves."

For more from Ronan, watch her interview above.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.