SnitchSeeker got the chance to sit down with Evanna Lynch at A Celebration of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort earlier this month, where the Luna Lovegood actress spoke with us about her upcoming projects, her experience riding Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, her recent switch to veganism, and much more.

SnitchSeeker: So, the most important question: Did you finally get to ride Gringotts?
Evanna Lynch: Yeah, I did. I went the first night I was here. It was great. I was really surprised. I expected it to be a roller coaster, but I didn’t realize it was a combination. I thought it was very clever how they incorporated it with the movie, where they have Harry and Hermione getting the Horcrux, and you’re lost in Gringotts all the while. I loved that ‘cause then you can watch the movie and associate it.

SnitchSeeker: What was your favorite part of the ride?
Evanna Lynch: Probably that bit with the dragon. Where the dragon’s breathing fire and Bill is like, “Get out of here!” I just like the drama.

SnitchSeeker: If you had to compare it to Forbidden Journey, which one did you like better?
Evanna Lynch: Gringotts, I think, ‘cause I really love roller coasters. So I like that there is a drop at the start, and it just feels vast. I know you don’t actually go down but it just feels like you’re going far underground. It feels like there’s a vast underworld. I love Forbidden Journey, too, though.

SnitchSeeker: So you did a film called Dynamite. You’ve been asking for funding. How’s that going?
Evanna Lynch: We have. I think it’s going well. They’ve got quite a big target. They’re target’s $50,000. It’s because it was a very low budget movie. It was shot in three weeks. Tate [Steinsiek], the director, he is known as a special effects makeup artist, and he’s a complete perfectionist. He was on Faceoff – a lot of people know him from that – and he worked on Spiderman, so he’s trying to do these incredibly technically-complicated effects with not the right budget. So that’s what that was for. It’s for the post-production to make everything just look really slick and tight. I think it will be a great movie anyway. It certainly was a challenge to film and he ended up cutting out quite a lot of scenes. I have to say some character development was left out that was a blow to us, but I do think the scenes that we got were full of emotion. And it is a real story. The guy who wrote it, he was on set the whole time.

It was just so fascinating to have him around and to watch him watching his life back. So I hope it gets its goal. They’re getting more perks. Tate has connections. I think he got something from My Chemical Romance, random things, so hopefully it will. I said to him, “You know, Tate, you’re asking my and Ian’s [Harding] fans who are usually teenagers and they don’t have a lot of money to spare.” We all really appreciate every little bit that’s gone in. I know when I was young, pre-Potter, I was always counting the pennies. To actually give a contribution to a project they know nothing about means so much. We really, really appreciate it.

SnitchSeeker: Do you have any other projects coming up?
Evanna Lynch: I do. I just shot a movie in October called My Name is Emily, which was awesome. It was my first project in Ireland, which was really special to me because I’m from Ireland but I’ve never actually made any projects there. I always thought, “Oh, all the cool stuff happens abroad.” So it was lovely to make connections in the Irish film industry. My name is Emily was such a special project because the director, he has ALS – the same disease as Stephen Hawking – so it was a labor of love for him. It was such a huge accomplishment. He was diagnosed about five or six years ago and he started writing the script with his hands and he finished it with his eyes.

And just to see that come all the way through, I think it’s definitely the sense the three actors – me, Michael Smiley and George Webster – we all felt, “Let’s not screw this up.” It’s not just for us - it’s for him. We needed to be perfect for him because he’s putting so much at stake here. They’re picture locking I think in April, so they probably both will come out about the same time. They’re both independent movies trying to make it through and get distributors.

SnitchSeeker: Here at the Celebration at the expo they have the Sorting Hat out there. Have you done that?
Evanna Lynch: I haven’t. I don’t know how much store I would set by that. It might upset me because I like that I’m Gryffindor. I feel like, “Jo said so. I don’t need anyone else’s opinion.” But maybe I will. We’ll see.

SnitchSeeker: So they’ve opened a few of these Harry Potter parks, and they’re going to open one in Hollywood soon. Each park has something a little bit different about it. What would you like to see them do in Hollywood?
Evanna Lynch: Maybe like a Thestral ride or something? A Thestral roller coaster? I’m obviously trying to incorporate myself because I want to be in the ride. I’ve been to the park in Japan – not the Harry Potter park – but Universal has this park where it’s like an indoor roller coaster. It’s a sun fairy and you have to save the sun fairy. It’s just the most magical thing.

I think if they did that with the Crumple Horned Snorkack? Because that one’s set in space and there’s all these fairies coming at you – if they had that, but with magical creatures flying over your head … you’re enjoying the ride but you’re also trying to look at all the fantastic beasts. I would like that. And Luna would be like, “The Crumple Horned Snorkack is this way!” She’s always leading you around, and you never get there. You never actually find it, but she has faith.

SnitchSeeker: You recently said you thought that Luna might’ve been a vegetarian. Why is that?
Evanna Lynch: Honestly I can’t see how she couldn’t be. I know I’m kind of I just think she’s someone who’s such a compassionate person, and she absolutely doesn’t want to hurt anyone. She just wants to let living things breathe and be themselves, and that is the essence of Luna. She just wants to express herself and be exactly how she is, and she wants everyone else that way. She doesn’t think of “can’t.” She doesn’t think of the obstacles. I think for her to see any kind of slavery – and I think animals being grown for food and being drugged that way, I think it is a form of slavery – and I don’t think karmically she would stand for that.

I don’t think she would like to be eating things that have suffered. She is a very spiritual person. She’s sensitive to energies about people. She knows things that other people don’t. She will say things to harry about the dead, about spirits. She has this sense of the spirit world, so she’s very finely tuned to energies. I just don’t think it’s a very good energy. There’s too much suffering in that industry.

SnitchSeeker: You recently became vegan, good on you. I’m vegetarian.
Evanna Lynch: You are? Awesome! It’s tough, isn’t it? It’s hard. But you know what? I’m doing it bit by bit. I’ve been transitioning for about two years. I’ve been learning. But I keep hitting roadblocks because it’s a lot of guilt-tripping. Some vegans will do that. You say you are and they’re like, “Well why are you still wearing a leather purse?” and things like that. I watched that documentary Vegucated and there was a perfect quote about how veganism is not about trying to be perfect, but about trying to minimize suffering … like whatever you can do. And I think it is something I can do. I think it’s going to take a few months, years. I definitely need to learn things.

I feel like, vegetarian, it was just about cutting out meat. But veganism, you have to know about nutrition, you have to know how to cook and things like that. So that is my goal, personally. I think I need to find a support group because I don’t like feeling like the odd one out. I don’t like feeling judged for it and I don’t like when people try to engage in political discussion. So I just need to find a group of people where it’s the norm, then they all understand that it’s tough.

SnitchSeeker: In Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, who would you cast as Newt Scamander?
Evanna Lynch: You know, actually, there was an actor who I auditioned with for My Name is Emily and he was brilliant. They went a different way for that role – George [Webster] was brilliant for that role, it was just kind of his role – but Luke Newberry, I met him and he was just so good. He’s sensitive and he’s quite quirky. He definitely has a deep sensitivity. He was just a pleasant person. There was good energy about him.

So what happened was, on Twitter people were saying … he has a fan base. He played Teddy [Lupin] in the [Harry Potter] films – or he was supposed to play him. His fans were saying, “Luke for Newt,” and I was like, “Oh, that would be really great actually. That’s a really good fit.” So, I know he’s interested and would love to play it, I think. Who wouldn’t? It’d be an amazing part. So I think he’d be good.