After the Potter family cast was revealed in photos yesterday for Harry Potter’s eighth installment, the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Pottermore has now shared photos of the show’s other central family, the Granger-Weasleys, and they look pretty great.
Here’s Noma Dumezweni as Hermione Granger:
Here’s Ron Weasley, played by Paul Thornley:
And here’s their daughter, Rose Granger-Weasley, played by Cherrelle Skeete:
Dumezweni had previously discussed how excited she was to play an adult version of the beloved character, telling The Guardian in February, “She’s Hermione, isn’t she? She rocks. She’s the one who grounds them. She’s the one who says: ‘You can do better. You’ve got to own up to yourself.’ I’ve got to be careful how I say this, but we all aspire to be Hermione. She’s struggled, but she holds it all together.” She has also starred in productions of Linda and I See You at the Royal Court Theater, A Human Being Died That Night, at The Fugard Theater and the Market Theatre, and A Raisin In The Sun (for which she won an Olivier award) at the Lyric Hammersmith.
Thornley has appeared in A Chorus of Disapproval at the Harold Pinter Theatre, The Three Musketeers at the Kingston Theatre and It’s a Wonderful Life for the Wolsey Theatre, among others.
Skeete, even at a young age, has worked in productions of Three Days in the Country and The Amen Corner for the National Theatre and The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre.
On the Harry Potter universe’s new character, Rose Granger-Weasley, Skeete said, “Rose is ambitious, obviously her mum is Hermione so she’s got a lot to live up to. I think they’re quite similar in the fact they put a lot of pressure on themselves. And she just wants to do the right thing.”
Though some had taken issue in comments sections and on social media (pretty much solely out of bigotry) about the casting of a black actress as Hermione, the choice has mostly been met with excitement at the idea of a more inclusive HP world.
The play will run at London’s Palace Theater and continue the wizarding world’s epic tale 19 years into the future.