The highly anticipated West End production of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” (the eighth installment of J.K. Rowling’s wizarding franchise) has been cast, it was revealed yesterday to much excitement. Harry Potter will be played by Jamie Parker, Ron Weasley by Paul Thornley, and in a surprising casting turn, Hermione Granger will be played by Noma Dumezweni. The production, which has the heroic trio played by adults, is set to premiere at London’s Palace Theatre in summer 2016.
The major surprise in this casting lineup is, of course, Dumezweni, a 45-year-old black actor—if only because Hermione is instilled in audiences’ minds as Emma Watson. The Swaziland-born Dumezweni is a regular in London’s theater and arts scene, appearing in over a dozen productions and winning a Laurence Olivier Award along the way for “A Raisin in the Sun” in 2006. She can currently be seen in Penny Skinner’s “Linda,” which the Guardian refers to as “the rescue mission of the year” after she replaced Kim Cattrall at the last minute.
“Harry Potter” helmer J.K. Rowling nipped any brewing social media controversy in the bud this morning with a single tweet, saying “Rowling loves black Hermione.”
For their parts, Parker, 35, was in the original cast of “The History Boys” in 2004 and has gone on to be a regular talent at Shakespeare’s Globe. Thornley, 40, was in Tom Hooper’s film adaptation of “Les Misérables,” and has appeared in several other British films and television series.
A brief synopsis of the play, which follows Harry as an adult working in the Ministry of Magic and is set to premiere in the summer of 2016, can be found on its website.
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