The Little Octopus From Love Actually Grew Up & Is Utterly Adorable

Among the many many cute things in the perennial classic Love Actually, one detail stands out as perhaps the cutest: the little octopus. He isn't a real octopus, of course — he is Natalie's (Martine McCutcheon) little brother, all dressed up for his school's Christmas pageant. Incidentally, that pageant includes an octopus (as well as two lobsters.) At face value, the octopus serves as comic relief. He's there to diffuse (or heighten) the sexual tension between our love interests David (Hugh Grant) and Natalie. But some of us — namely me — would argue he is much more than that. Who can forget the classic reminder that eight happens to be a lot of legs for a costume?

For fans of the octopus, we have good news: He's still cute. The folks over at BuzzFeed discovered that comedian Kathy Burke was kind enough to share a recent photo of "octopus boy," who happens to be Burke's godson Bill Campbell.

"Want to feel old? Here's what octopus boy aka my godson, Bill looks like now," she wrote on Twitter. He no longer looks like a forlorn octopus, anxious about his school play. No, Campbell looks like an honest-to-goodness adult, proving that time does, in fact, force us to grow up. (Sigh.)

This shouldn't be all that surprising, given that Love Actually came out in 2003, a full 14 years ago. That means a baby born during the filming of the movie would be 14 years old. Campbell's age in the film is difficult to discern, but even if he were five years old during filming, he'd be at least 19 today.

Since many tend to watch Love Actually come Christmas, it's never been too far from our minds. To boot, turtlenecks never go out of style, so it's hard to tell what year the movie takes place. That's why it was so darn shocking to see the movie's most darling couple looking a tad more mature in the recent sequel to the film.

The sequel, which will air in the United States on May 25, features many of the main actors from the 2003 film, including Hugh Grant and Martine McCutcheon. Alas, it seems Billy Campbell did not get to reprise his role as octopus boy. This doesn't mean Emma Freud, the director of the sequel, isn't aware of Campbell's drastic change in appearance. Freud shared the same side-by-side on Instagram, noting, "Octopus boy then. Octopus boy now. *faints.*"

It's a crazy world out there. Octopus boys grow up. Love Actually is still a relevant movie. And, amazingly, turtlenecks are still in style.