The Secret of Malfoy's Disappearing Henchman

The Disappearance of Goyle

Henchman Gregory Goyle is almost as memorable of a presence as Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movie adaptations, so many viewers noticed that one of the Crabbe and Goyle actors seemed to vanish midway through Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Goyle and Draco pointing their wands in the same direction in Harry Potter

Luckily, there is an answer to the mystery of Goyle's disappearance. Alongside Crabbe, Slytherin student Gregory Goyle is an instantly recognizable lesser villain from the series. A gormless bully who accompanies the slimy Draco Malfoy everywhere, Goyle is his muscle and plays both an imposing presence and comic relief at different points throughout the series.

Crabbe and Goyle posing in Harry Potter

Though there were recastings in the Harry Potter series when necessary, like Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort and Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore, the movies tried to avoid switching out actors. This made the Goyle changes in the Harry Potter movies hard to miss. However, it's especially noticeable that the Crabbe and Goyle actors aren't present for one of Malfoy’s most iconic scenes when he is punched by Hermione. There is a reason for their absence, and it's to do with behind-the-scenes problems while filming the 3rd Harry Potter movie.

Draco talking to Crabbe and Doyle in Harry Potter

The Injury and Return

The reason the Goyle actor Josh Herdman doesn't appear much in The Prisoner of Azkaban is that he injured his arm and, as a result, was forced to drop out of filming for action sequences. A Slytherin student referred to as Pike (Game of Thrones actor Bronson Webb) replaced the character of Goyle for the rest of the movie, and Crabbe and Goyle don't appear much in The Prisoner of Azkaban as a result.

Draco with Crabbe and Goyle in Harry Potter

Herdman returned to the role for the remaining films, unlike his co-star Jamie Waylett, who left later in the Harry Potter franchise when he was arrested for marijuana possession. Since Harry Potter's end, Goyle actor Josh Herdman has gone on to risk more than a filming-limiting broken limb by becoming an MMA fighter. Despite this career change, his onscreen roles have not dried up, with the actor appearing in the 2018 movie Robin Hood and the TV spy thriller series Alex Rider. Unfortunately, the injured arm wasn’t his last scrape with peril, as in 2015 he was also thrown from a motorbike in an accident which fortunately left him without serious injuries.

Crabbe and Goyle on steps in Harry Potter

Crabbe and Goyle in the Books vs. Movies

While Crabbe and Goyle are very much Malfoy’s lackeys on both the screen and the page, their roles are more significant in the books. The screen time they received in the Harry Potter movies is a reduced role — maybe not ideal for the Crabbe and Goyle actors, but not unheard of when it comes to book-to-screen adaptations. There’s only so much time allotted for a movie, so some scenes that readers might love get cut in moving the story to the screen. If a character isn’t deemed significant to the main character’s arc, those characters get diminished stories as well. That’s exactly what happened.

Draco with his minions in Harry Potter

In the Harry Potter novels, Crabbe and Goyle act as a window into who Malfoy is. He’s the Hogwarts equivalent of the school bully because his family is wealthy and powerful, and Crabbe and Goyle’s families have a dark history with the Malfoys. The boys form a natural alliance, but with Malfoy having one of the most powerful families in Harry Potter to fall back on, he’s the one who has all the power in their pseudo-friendship. Harry and Ron find themselves crossing paths with Crabbe and Goyle a lot more in the books than they do in the movie, and each encounter allows them to learn more about the duo and Malfoy.

A screenshot of Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle snooping Dumbledore's Army in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix