THEY are a poised group of actors already negotiating career options and life after Harry Potter. Five years after the nervous unknowns were introduced, have they grown too old to complete the £1.4 billion franchise?

It is not only the teenage wizard who is maturing fast. In London to publicise Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth in the series, Daniel Radcliffe and his co-stars parried questions about girlfriends and future plans like veterans.

Now 16 and receiving numerous alternative offers, Radcliffe may not be around for the series conclusion. “I’m not absolutely confident that I’m doing them all,” he said. “I’m definitely doing the fifth, but after that who knows?” Given a 12A rating for being scarier than its predecessors, Goblet of Fire, which sees Harry discover girls and the murder of one character, doesn’t go far enough for Emma Watson, 15, who plays Hermione. She said: “Hermione and Ron have got to get it together, it’s been going on for so long now. That’s my hope for future installments.” She is considering a leap to the stage or art-house movies. “I have so many options,” she said.

“There are so many scripts and they are fantastic. I think I would like to do something different, maybe something smaller.” She sympathised with younger fans who may not be allowed to see the film but maintained that the darker tone was neccessary. “You can’t get away from the fact that someone dies in it,” she said.

Harry is entranced by charms of fellow Hogwarts student Cho Chang, played by Katie Leung, 18, a Scottish schoolgirl in her first acting role. Radcliffe understands only too well. “I’ve been going through all the hormone stuff like Harry has relatively recently, so it’s fresh in my mind; in fact it continues,” he said.

Asked whether they had girlfriends or boyfriends, the cast sheepishly shook their heads. “We are all sad, sad, single people,” Radcliffe declared. The producers further toyed with the Hogwarts’ boys hormones with the introduction of a French actress, Clémence Poésy, leader of the Beauxbatons girls.

Radcliffe is to star in December Boys, an drama set in Australia about four orphans forced to compete for the chance to gain a real family.Rupert Grint, 17, who plays Harry’s best friend, Ron, has already completed a starring role in Driving Lessons, with Julie Walters. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire opens on November 18.

TROUBLED WORLD OF CHILD STARS

Shirley Temple Movie debut aged 3. Public tired of all-singing, all-dancing act by age 11. Became an ambassador to Ghana

Michael Jackson Launched into Jackson Five aged 11. Became music’s most popular entertainer but remained scarred by abusive relationship with father

Drew Barrymore Touched hearts as Gertie in ET, aged 7. On downward spiral of drink and drugs before 13, has recovered to become producer and actress

Macaulay Culkin Earnt $5 million a film after Home Alone, aged 10. Now a stage actor

Haley Joel Osment Oscar-nominated 11-year-old star of The Sixth Sense has reputation for “unspoilt professionalism”

Dakota Fanning 11-year-old über-brat already has 19 credits, including Spielberg’s War of the Worlds

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