Saoirse Ronan reveals one missed role she still thinks about (and it's from Harry Potter)

Four-time Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan has starred in many acclaimed films, having started her acting career at a young age with the Irish TV show The Clinic in 2003. The American-Irish actress, now 30, has become a household name in the years since, and I think I speak for many when I say I'd watch anything she's in. She's certainly proven her talent, and her filmography is full of variety. But even though she's an in-demand actress now, that doesn't mean she's landed every role she's auditioned for.

As it turns out, Ronan actually went up for a part in Harry Potter — and was turned down. While promoting her new movie The Outrun, the actress stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where she revealed the one missed role she still thinks about. As she recalls in the video below, Ronan auditioned to play Luna Lovegood, explaining that many Irish girls tried out for the part. Though she knew she was too young for the role, she still thought having the opportunity to audition was "the coolest thing ever."

Evanna Lynch was ultimately cast in the role of Luna Lovegood, making her acting debut with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Potterheads know Lynch's close connection to the Harry Potter books — and to author J.K. Rowling — having read the books and attributing them to how she got through her experience with an eating disorder at a young age. Lynch wrote letters to Rowling about how special the books were to her during this difficult time, making her casting all the more incredible.

"I started writing to JK Rowling and she wrote back and we became pen friends after that," Lynch shared in 2018 while competing on Dancing With the Stars. "I was in and out of hospital and I would be getting these letters." Without a doubt, Lynch did a great job bringing the quirky and sweet character to life.

Ronan is hardly the only famous actor who auditioned for — and lost — a part in Harry Potter. Eddie Redmayne, who went on to play Newt Scamander in the Fantastic Beasts movies, went out for the part of Tim Riddle in Harry Potter of the Chamber of Secrets, but the part went to Christian Coulson. Other actors were offered roles and turned them down, as reported by Business Insider, including Tilda Swinton, Ian McKellen, Tim Roth, and others.

Elsewhere in her interview with Kimmel, Ronan talked about almost appearing in frequent collaborator Greta Gerwig's Barbie and the fact that she's been nominated for four Oscars but has lost every one. She also denied rumors she's been officially cast in Gerwig's The Chronicles of Narnia, saying she hasn't been asked to be in it yet.

Perhaps with the Harry Potter TV show, Ronan can fulfill her dreams of being part of the Wizarding World... though I think it's a little too late for Luna!