When an actor hits the big time, it is not uncommon for them to shy away from their earlier work and suggest that they feel a level of shame for the lower-brow projects that they starred in before making it in Hollywood.
Thankfully, that is not the case for Oscar nominee Austin Butler, who, in a recent interview, looked back at one of his earliest roles with nothing but fondness.
In case you didn’t know, before he was dominating the box office with movies such as Elvis and Dune: Part Two, Austin got his start on kids TV with appearances on shows like Wizards of Waverly Place, Zoey 101, and Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide.
Then, in 2013, Austin landed what was arguably his breakout role in the CW teen drama The Carrie Diaries, a prequel to Sex and the City.
At age 22, Austin played young Carrie Bradshaw’s heartthrob love interest Sebastian Kydd throughout the show’s two seasons, with AnnaSophia Robb taking on the role of Carrie.
And when asked about the show in a recent interview with E! News, Austin had nothing but good things to say.
"Carrie Diaries for me was a time where I moved to New York for the first time," he began. "I was surrounded by people that I love to be around, I learned a lot, and I was falling in love with that city, and so I look back with a lot of nostalgia."
Austin added: “You have these moments in time where you're surrounded by certain people, or you're in a particular environment, and then after a while that time doesn't exist anymore, and then you're just left with that feeling of nostalgia.”
And AnnaSophia has previously shown that there’s still plenty of love between herself and her former costar, telling E! News that she was “extremely proud” of Austin when he was nominated for an Oscar back in 2022.
“It was a joy working on that set,” she said of The Carrie Diaries. “We all knew Austin would be a superstar when we worked with him."
I don't know about you, but I think I'm due a rewatch!
