J.K. Rowling Approves of Casting Black Actress as Hermione in ‘Harry Potter’ Play

The highly anticipated grown-up cast of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was revealed on Sunday with one surprise: Noma Dumezweni, a black actress, will play Hermoine Granger.

The news quickly spread and the backlash (predictably and sadly) came rolling in on social media. However, J.K. Rowling shut down the whole debate with one tweet.

Canon: brown eyes, frizzy hair and very clever. White skin was never specified. Rowling loves black Hermione ? https://t.co/5fKX4InjTH

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— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 21, 2015

It’s official, Rowling approves.

Dumezweni is a Laurence Olivier Award winning actress who has appeared in more than a dozen productions in London theatre. The actress was born in Swaziland and moved to England when she was a young child.

The play, written by Jack Thorne, shows Potter all grown up. Rowling has called this the eighth installment of the Harry Potter series.

A short summary of the plot is available from the play’s website:

“It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children. While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.”

The play is set to premiere in London’s Palace Theatre in the summer of 2016.