'Can't Wait': Emma Watson Tweets Her Approval of 'Black Hermione'

"Can't wait to see Noma Dumezweni as Hermione on stage this year," Watson wrote

Photo: Getty

While the brief Internet flap about casting black English actress Noma Dumezweni as Hermione in the new Harry Potter stage play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, was largely quashed by J.K. Rowling, who tweeted her support for the casting decision, there remained one voice notably absent from the conversation: Emma Watson.

Currently the most recognizable Hermione, having played the character through the entirety of the Harry Potter film series, Watson weighed in on the controversy on Saturday, tweeting simply that she “Can’t wait to see Noma Dumezweni as Hermione on stage this year,” adding a string of heart emojis for good measure.

The two-part play, which is based on a new original story by Rowling, catches up with Harry, Ron and Hermione as adults before shifting the focus to Harry’s youngest son Albus. “As past and present fuse ominously,” the play’s production synopsis reads, “both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.”

In December, Rowling responded to criticism of casting Dumezweni, pointing out that she never specified Hermione’s race or skin color in her books.

“Canon: brown eyes, frizzy hair and very clever,” she tweeted at the time. “White skin was never specified. Rowling loves black Hermione.”

While Harry Potter and the Cursed Child doesn’t open until June, tickets for the first four months of performances sold out within hours of going on sale in October.