What future for Harry Potter stars?

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Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have been stars of the Harry Potter film series for nearly half their lives.

It's transformed them into some of the richest and most recognised people in Britain, but also left them typecast, and forever associated with the hit films.

So, as the curtain prepares to fall on the movie series based on JK Rowling's seven books, it's fair to say they face an uncertain future.

Plucked from obscurity while still at primary school, Radcliffe, Watson and Grint have spent their formative years on a film set.

Their characters have become second skin, and the actors admit it is a tough job to leave them behind.

"It's been a massive part of my life, I'm going to miss kind of everything," says Rupert Grint, 22, who plays Ron Weasley.

Asked what he might do when he no longer has to live and breathe Ron, he joked: "A tattoo sounds quite cool, maybe of Daniel Radcliffe's face."

Radcliffe, 21, seems firmly set on acting with a hope of taking up directing at a later date, while Hermione star Emma Watson is studying a liberal arts degree in the United States and has already forged a path for herself as a fashion model.

But they both admit the future is uncertain, with Watson, 20, saying: "I'm entering a new phase of my life, I feel excited to see what comes next."

Over the past six films, fans have watched Harry and his friends learn their magic at Hogwarts school and battle the growing forces of the evil Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry's parents and seems intent on destroying him too.

In the Deathly Hallows: Part One, which opens at Shropshire cinemas on November 19, the trio leave behind the safety of school and their families to seek out horcruxes, items in which Voldemort has hidden pieces of his soul, so they can destroy them and ultimately bring him down.

Set against the backdrop of a wizarding world increasingly under Voldemort's evil influence, the film focuses on the close friendship between the main characters and builds on the budding romance between Hermione and Ron. It is the first of two films based on the seventh and final book in Rowlings' series, which have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide, and director David Yates admitted the decision to split the book was controversial.

But he said "it was totally the right thing to do", adding that the decision was creative and not driven by film studio Warner Brothers' desire to make money.

The first part of the book moves relatively slowly and charts the three friends' emotional journey, while the second half involves a huge battle – an epic struggle between good and evil that will have to wait until Part Two.

Yates said that despite the failure to release a 3D version of Part One in time, he hopes this problem will be resolved for the second part.

"I'd love the last one to be in 3D – the second one is a big spectacle, it's operatic, it's battles, it's spiders, it's giants, it's dragons. I think it could work," he said.

By Carl Jones