The adult Hermione Granger will be played by Swaziland-born actress Noma Dumezweni in the forthcoming Harry Potter play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – and fans of the series, as well as its creator, are pleased with the casting.
Dumezweni, 46, will be joined by Jamie Parker as the middle-aged Harry Potter and Paul Thornley as her on-stage husband, Ron Weasley. The play opens in London in July.
Noma Dumezweni has been cast as Hermoine Granger for a stage play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.Credit: Twitter
The Olivier Award-winning actress is currently playing the title role in Linda at the Royal Court Theatre, for which she has been critically appraised.
Shortly after the casting announcement was made, Dumezweni posted on Twitter about the reaction she had been getting from fans: "Um... So. Just seen my feed BLOW UP... What's THAT about?!"
"I'm so excited with the choice of casting": JK Rowling.Credit: AP
Harry Potter fans replied with comments such as "Welcome to the wizarding world!", "welcome 2 the hp fandom ma'am" and "this will be your life now. Welcome to the Potter fandom. We may be over emotional but we're always friendly".
Later, JK Rowling confirmed what some fans had pondered for years: that Hermione could have always been black.
Hermione Granger, Harry and Ron's academic friend at Hogwarts, was played by Emma Watson in the Warner Bros film adaptations of JK Rowling's books. Rowling never described Hermione's race in the books, but only that she had "bushy brown hair and brown eyes", as well as very large front teeth.
Hermione's race has long been a topic of discussion among fans, with people posing long, considered answers for each side of the argument on websites such as Quora and Reddit. Among the Tumblr blogging community, fans have posted drawings of a black Hermione for years.
So Dumezweni's casting was good news for many:
While some people dubbed the casting "idiotic" or accused Rowling, who was involved in the casting, as "playing the PC card", many retorted that there were far more unbelievable things in the wizarding world than a black witch:
Rowling, who wrote the as-yet-unpublished book that inspired The Cursed Child, said of Dumezweni's casting: "I'm so excited with the choice of casting for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I can't wait to see Jamie, Noma and Paul bring the adult Harry, Hermione and Ron to life on stage next summer."
Since publishing the books and engaging with her fans on Twitter, Rowling has often promoted diversity within the wizarding world, explaining that witches and wizards could be Jewish, gay, and of any race.
If anything, most of the outcry is centered on the fact that Thornley is not as red-headed as his famously ginger character, Ron Weasley, something that the play's writer, Jack Thorne, addressed on Twitter:
The Telegraph, London