Hero Fiennes Tiffin has made a lot of money from the series but does he actually like it?
The After film franchise joined the ranks of Netflix’s romantic dramas back in 2019, bringing the large and loyal fan base of the original young adult series in tow. Leading the cast as the brooding main character Hardin Scott has been British model turned actor Hero Fiennes Tiffin (if you think you’ve seen him outside the After franchise, take a look back at Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince). But with the final After film due for release in 2022, fan’s thoughts have naturally been turning to how the cast feel about leaving the series behind – and how they’ve found the journey.
Amongst the huge viewership of the film, several cast members – Hero included – have spoken out about the pressures of newfound fame, leaving fans curious if their true feelings about the cast have gone unsaid. We’re digging into Hero’s interviews about his time on and off-set to unpack how he really feels about the After series.
The “After” Franchise Help Make Hero Fiennes Tiffin $1.3 Million But Also Made Him Uncomfortable With Fame
For an actor cast in a leading role, research is crucial to understanding a character accurately. But, understanding how to play a character is especially tricky when it comes to a book-to-film adaptation. For Fiennes Tiffin, the solution to navigating Hardin’s character portal was to avoid reading the After novels completely. As Fiennes told Cosmopolitan, he made a conscious decision to “avoid confusion with the script and the adaptation.” Tiffin later explained he felt comfortable distancing himself from the source material because Todd “was there with us all the time every day” for any character guidance.
Thanks to his creative tactic, fans really connected with the character, and the series itself became incredibly successful. According to CapitalFM, Hero is worth around $1.3 million and makes a few hundred grand per After movie.
Besides holding a leading role in the After series, Hero has been carving out a career as an international fashion model; he’s no stranger to fame or a busy schedule. However, Hero opened up about the shock and pressures he found when the Netflix films catapulted him to a new level of fame. He confessed to FlauntMagazine that the fame “was initially overwhelming. But now, at this point, I’m obviously able to enjoy the good things and not dwell too much on the changes.”
Emphasizing how unexpected the film’s success has been, he added how he “didn’t plan” for the past few years and has been set on a different life path. “I just wanted to stay busy and do loads of auditions and do things on the side. Now a few years later, I’ve kind of settled from a sudden change in a sudden period of time to now a long couple years of adjustments.”
Hero Fiennes Tiffin Wanted To Distance The Franchise From Harry Styles
If you’re yet to watch or read of Anna Todd’s works, think of a teen romantic drama with a heavy nod to Harry Styles. Before becoming a blockbuster saga, the series started out as a Wattpad fanfiction written by Todd with the main character, Hardin Scott, originally named and modeled after former One Directioner Harry Styles.
Though Fiennes Tiffin acknowledges there’s still a Styles-esque feel to Hardin’s character in the film franchise, he also made clear that when it came to acting Hardin, “I didn’t need to draw any external inspiration from him by the time we got through the books to the script to Hardin’s character.” Explaining why, he said how “Anna has written this crazy, amazing world of life that no longer needs them as inspiration because the characters are so well-rounded,” he added.
Hero Fiennes Tiffin Wants A Happy Ending For Hardin And Tessa And Is Thinking “Spin-Off”
For those of you who aren’t die-hard After fans, you’ll be waiting eagerly for the fourth and final After film, After Ever Happy. Don’t worry, there are no spoilers in this article. However, Hardin himself has shared thoughts on what he hopes will unfold in the final installment of the After series.
Although the relationship between Hardin and Tessa is more torrid waters than smooth sailing, Hero is holding out for a happy ending. Speaking to Teen Vogue, he voices his hopes that “Hardin and Tessa get to run across a rainbow and clouds of fluffy pink amazingness and everything goes great.” Not too idealistic though, he acknowledged “that wouldn’t make a very entertaining story, so I’m sure there will be some bumps in the road.”
Sitting down with CinemaBlend and Josephine Langford (aka. the Tessa to his Hardin), Hero had some thoughts about who should play future Hardin if there was ever going to be an After spin-off. While Langford selected Leonardo DiCaprio to play an older Hardin, Hero pitched his own casting choice for an older Tessa: “I’ll say Reese Witherspoon, maybe?”. Langford laughed in response to the suggestion – a seal of approval, then?
Hero Fiennes Tiffin Is Branching Out From Teen Dramas
When speaking with Teen Vogue, Hero shared the films he has in the pipeline. On the nonfiction front, he confirmed he would be open to working on some “Definitely down the line” but confessed that with any job, “I automatically want to do something very different after. So I don’t think I’d go into something similar immediately.” Although he expressed how “special” the series is, he added: “I don’t feel the need to do anything too similar immediately… right now I don’t feel the need to run off and do anything else similar but different.”
So, keep your eyes peeled for Hero’s next project because it seems anything is in the cards.
