Being a wizard might not be all it’s cracked up to be. In an interview with Bustle, Rupert Grint said that playing Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter franchise from ages 11 to 22 was “quite suffocating.”

While promoting his upcoming film, Knock at the Cabin, Grint opened up about his decade-long stint playing everyone’s favorite redheaded wizard and the thin line between himself and the character. “In the movies, we merged into one,” he said. “By the end of it, I was playing myself. The lines were blurred.” He also noted that for a while he felt a “competitive element” in the way  the media compared his career with those of his costars, like Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, after leaving the Potter-verse. “‘Who’s doing what?’; people contrasting our careers,” he said. “We’re all completely different and going along different paths.”

Grint also commented on the grueling Harry Potter shooting and press tour schedule. “Potter was so full on—[filming] all year, then we’d promote the rest of the time. It was quite suffocating,” he told Bustle. “I wanted a break, to reflect on everything… It was an out-of-body experience for a while, but I think we finished at the right time. If we continued, it could’ve gone downhill.”

While Potter was a full-time commitment, Grint says that he’s grateful for the experience, highlighting his recent reunion with the cast for HBO Max’s Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts special in 2022. “[Being in Harry Potter] was a really unique experience only us core group really know, so it’s nice to see them,” he says of his costars. “It was a good opportunity to reflect on everything and just say how crazy it was. It’s always nice to look back.”

Since Potter, Grint has made a name for himself for taking on darker material, working with famed horror director M. Night Shyamalan on Knock at the Cabin and the Apple TV+ series Servant, and appearing in Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities. However, Grint says he’s ready to take on some lighter, more festive fare. “I like the idea of doing something light next,” he said, “like a Christmas movie.”