Harry Potter’s Nick Moran Decided He’d ‘Rather Not Walk or Talk Than Die’ After Spinal Surgery

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows actor Nick Moran is recovering from emergency spinal surgery.

“Nick’s girlfriend was saying ‘You’ve got to get [your neck pain] checked out,’ but as a bloke, he said, ‘No, I’ll put some deep heat on it’ then he went to the doctors and got sent to A&E and [was] told ‘We need to take you in for an emergency operation because this is life-threatening,’” his friend Terry Stone told the Daily Mail on Friday, April 11.

Moran, best known for playing Scabious in both Deathly Hollows movies, hurt his neck after sustaining an undisclosed injury.

“I spoke to one of his family members and he damaged his neck somehow and it’s affecting his spinal cord and some of the things that operate your speech and your legs,” Stone said of the 55-year-old actor. “He’s recovering.”

While Moran is currently on the mend, Stone claimed that doctors told him pre-surgery that “he might never walk or talk again.”

“He’s not in the best of health, but when he came out of the operation, I was like, ‘Thank God,’” Stone said. “I think he’d decided he’d rather not walk or talk than die.”

During the procedure, Moran had several neck bones replaced with artificial ones.

“There’s so many nerves around the neck and spine that made the operation tricky with those awful chances of not being able to speak or walk again,” Stone explained to the outlet, noting that Moran is awake and alert.

“He’s speaking now, which is a good sign, but he’s shuffling around like a 100-year-old and has a neck brace on and taking it easy,” Stone said.

A rep for Moran further told the Daily Mail that the actor is now back home and “on his way to a full recovery.”

Stone first revealed Moran’s health scare in an Instagram post earlier this week.

“Nick has been rushed into hospital this week for a life saving operation which may mean he may never talk or walk again,” Stone wrote on Wednesday, April 9. “Let’s all pray for Nick’s full recovery.”

Several hours later, Stone revealed in an Instagram update that Moran was “giving us the thumbs-up” while recovering in the ICU after the operation.

In addition to his roles in the Harry Potter franchise, Moran has appeared in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, New Blood, The Musketeer and more.