Casting choice for ‘Harry Potter’ play sends the internet into a tizzy

Furthermore, if people are going to use book descriptions of the characters as an excuse to make racist comments against Noma Dumezweni, why are they not complaining about the casting choices for Ron and Harry Potter himself as well?

J.K. Rowling defends the casting of a black woman to portray Hermione Granger in a play set to run in London next year.

To answer those with objections for changing Hermione’s race, author and Cursed Child co-writer J.K. Rowling herself pointed out something from her original novels on Twitter.

Rowling commented on how excited she was about the new casting, saying she couldn’t wait to see Parker, Dumezweni and Thornley bring the characters to life next summer.

While there has been much praise for casting a black actress, the decision has some fans arguing over what skin colour Hermione was described as having in the books.

Parker, 36, who will play the adult version of Harry, rose to fame playing student Scripps in both the stage and film version of History Boys.

She tweeted: “Canon: brown eyes, frizzy hair and very clever”.

Other fans are offering the logical defense that she could be going “white as a sheet” as the expression goes, when someone is terrified.

But considering only a very brief synopsis of the play was released, fans have been overwhelmed by a series of unanswered questions: Who exactly is the “cursed child,” and why?

According to CNN, Swaziland-born, Noma Dumezweni, is a well established English actress with an Olivier Award for her role in A Raisin in the Sun.

The two-part play will see the now grown-up Harry Potter as a father of three, working in the Ministry of Magic, while his youngest son Albus struggles with their family legacy.

Dumezweni hasn’t commented on how it feels to be the new face of Hermione, though she did joke about how quickly her Twitter feed “blew up” following the announcement.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child opens at Palace Theatre in London on July 30.