The Harry Potter play has its Harry, Ron and Hermione. For some reason, everyone’s wondering why they don’t look like the movie actors, instead of asking the really important questions.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has recruited three huge British stage actors for the roles of Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Jamie Parker from The History Boys is Harry, Olivier Award-winner Noma Dumezweni is Hermione, and London Road‘s Paul Thornley is Ron.
When people aren’t butthurt that Hermione isn’t white (PSA: having a “white face” because you’re frightened is not an indicator of your ethnicity any more than “looking very brown” after a holiday is; J.K. Rowling “loves black Hermione,” get over it), they’re scrutinizing Harry and Ron.
Related: Why a black Hermione Granger in Cursed Child is okay (and important)
And, hey, looks are important. Ron isn’t ginger (he’s totally Dumbledore from the future, I don’t care what J.K. Rowling says), and Harry’s eyes still aren’t green!
But then we remember that these people are actors, and that Cursed Child has no obligation to Warner Bros.’ movie series, and all is well. So let’s move on.
How big of a role will the trio actually play in ‘Cursed Child?’
I don’t know about you, but I assumed that Albus Severus and his fellow Hogwarts students would be the pivotal characters in Cursed Child, potentially with Harry serving as our tie to the original Harry Potter book series, but now I’m not so sure.
Casting three big names as Harry, Ron and Hermione suggests that the o.g. trio will be more involved with the new plot than I thought, and that has me super excited. I’m sure Al Sev is adorable, but I’m all about the characters I grew up with. So getting the sense that Harry, Ron and Hermione (and their kids) will get to solve the “cursed child” mystery is a good thing.
Knowing that Cursed Child is split into two parts, one might even assume that Harry, Ron and Hermione could have a little adventure all on their own, to take the weight off the child actors.
Are Ron and Hermione… *gulp* divorced?
Say it ain’t so!
Though the fandom nearly had a collective heart attack when J.K. Rowling hinted that Hermione should have ended up with Harry, in the actual interview, Rowling said Ron and Hermione’s marriage would work out… probably.
“Maybe she and Ron will be alright with a bit of counseling, you know,” Rowling told TIME. “I wonder what happens at wizard marriage counseling? They’ll probably be fine.”
“He needs to work on his self-esteem issues and she needs to work on being a little less critical,” Rowling explained. This was in early 2014, presumably around the time or just before she started working on the play. It’s very likely we’ll see these themes running through Cursed Child, especially knowing how talented the adult cast is.
Hell, there are many popular fan theories that Ron and Hermione are actually already divorced by the time Cursed Child rolls around (even though her name is still Hermione Weasley). That could be a major plot point.
Where’s Ginny?
Sigh. After all this time, poor Ginny is still getting shafted.
Look, I know this announcement was all about the big three, and Ginny never was the leading lady I wanted her to be (well, she was, but of her own story), but for crying out loud. It’s been 19 years, she’s Harry’s wife, she could have at least been cast at the same time as them.
Related: 9 reasons why Ginny Weasley’s cooler than the movies give her credit for
Over the next few months we’ll likely see announcements trickle out about Ginny, Draco, Neville, Luna, the kids, and the new characters. But I was quietly hoping Ginny would actually have a more pivotal role in Cursed Child, so this continued sidelining makes me kind of sad.
Ginny has always been the cursed child.
Um… What if your favorite character is dead?
Look, this is the thing with sequels, as the world is painfully aware of right now: They put your original heroes at risk. (I am talking, of course, about the fate of Will Smith’s character in Independence Day 2. What did you think I was referring to?)
However you felt about Deathly Hallows’ “19 Years Later” epilogue, at least it cemented that our core four, plus Draco, were still alive and well, and that our ships worked out.
Continuing the story means accepting the reality that, after 19 years, some people we care about have probably passed away — especially our older characters. McGonagall, Hagrid, Flitwick, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and the rest of the parents are all at risk.
We like to think that time stops flowing when our favorite stories end, so when time picks back up again, suddenly that world becomes very precarious again. So much for “all was well.”
When will they announce Albus Severus?
And how many kid actors will they get to play him?
As Natalie noted in her brilliant Cursed Child casting article, the kids’ roles will have to be split, simply because kids can’t be required to work as much as adults — and with the play being split into two parts, it’s likely they won’t ask one 11-year-old to learn the lines for both.
Still, Albus Severus is ostensibly the secondary lead. The line-up of kids chosen for the part will be huge, and we’re looking forward to that announcement!