The final episode of Fleabag is a landmark moment in television because it captures an exchange any of us could have had with an unrequited lover at some point in our lives. Maybe you fell in love with your best friend and they didn’t feel the same way or maybe it was a right-person-wrong-time situation. And as if it wasn’t enough that Hot Priest tells Fleabag “It’ll pass” when she confesses her love for him, he actually says “I love you too” just moments later. It certainly wasn’t the first time in the history of television that someone had said “I love you too”, but accompanied by the single tear sliding down Hot Priest’s cheek, Fleabag’s pained smile and the crushing realisation that they wanted to be together but couldn’t, it became a cult moment that resonated with one-sided lovers all over the world—even those who hadn’t watched the series but only came across the scene while scrolling Instagram.
Which is why Andrew Scott’s good-natured disparagement of Fleabag’s fandom on the red carpet of his new Netflix thriller, Ripley, did not go down too well. “Go out and get some fresh air. Stop crying in your room with the curtains closed. Do something better with your life. It’s a great show, we all love it, but come on now. Pull yourself together. Open the curtains and go outside.” Of course, Scott said it in good humour but it’s not just Fleabag fans who have been asked to stop obsessing over a show. Recently, Miriam Margolyes, who played Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter franchise, said in an interview with News1, “I worry about Harry Potter fans because they should be over that by now.” In another interview with ABC News Australia, she spoke about how she often gets invited to do cameos at Harry Potter-themed weddings: “If your balls have dropped, then it’s time to forget about it,” she admonished the host, who was sporting a Gryffindor scarf. Reacting to Margolyes’s comments, actor Jessie Cave who plays Lavender Brown in the franchise, took a stand for the fans. At Dream It Con’s panel, Cave said, “It’s such a shame that that happened.” When informed that Margolyes had called the adult Harry Potter fans ‘weird’, she said, “That’s terrible! I don’t really like that she said that.”
Going back further to 2013, Robert Pattinson had said to Germany’s Interview Magazine, “Sometimes I ask myself what these masses of people do the whole day. They sit in front of their computers and comment on anything having even remotely to do with Twilight.” He has also been quite vocal about his dislike for the book series: “When I read it, it seemed like a book that was not supposed to be published.” But he had the good sense to redeem himself to the fandom in a 2022 interview with his Batman co-star Zoe Kravitz when she sheepishly admitted that she had never watched Twilight. He retorted, “It’s not even cool to be a hater anymore. That’s so 2010.” While many find it cheeky to watch these actors passionately tear down the characters that earned them fame, I always feel a little let down as a fan when I learn about it.
I love watching critically acclaimed shows and writing pretentious reviews on Letterboxd that no one ever reads. But when I am sad, I want the familiar comfort of a character I have loved for ages. That is why I—and many others like me—still go looking for hope in the stories that we know will eventually break our hearts. But what are we left with when the actors themselves give up on the characters that resonate with us? It feels like the sound of glass breaking; like a childhood friend telling me that they only pretended to like me so I would share my PlayStation with them. It feels like I’ve been cheated out of a moment I once treasured.
Closer home, Kareena Kapoor Khan has emerged as a refreshing antithesis of this pattern. Two weeks ago, on a BeerBiceps podcast, she was asked if she ever tires of people asking her about Geet from Jab We Met (2007). Without batting an eyelid, Kapoor Khan retorted, “Geet has inspired people because she is lovable but also has a certain level of confidence.” 17 years after the film’s release, the actor is not only basking in the love she still receives for her portrayal of Geet but is also grateful to her fans for it. “People have recited the whole film like a book. Very few films in a person’s career can have that impact,” she added.
Maybe the whole point of continuing to love our favourite shows and films as adults is being able to return to a safe space in our childhood whenever we revisit them. To rewatch Fleabag after what we thought was a messy breakup but actually led us to true love; to lip-sync with Geet and Poo’s self-love mantras when we need a confidence boost; to do a marathon of The Twilight Saga on a cosy afternoon and find joy in it another hundred times over. God knows we could use it.
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