Attention Potterheads! Tom Felton is bringing some magic to the Great White Way.
“I will be joining the amazing cast of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child here on Broadway, reprising my old role as Draco Malfoy,” Felton, 37, announced on the Thursday, June 5, episode of Today.
Felton’s casting marks the first time a cast member from the original Harry Potter film series has joined a production of the play, which opened on Broadway in 2018. “It’s very much a pinch me situation. I keep thinking I’m dreaming,” he told Today’s Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin. “So, I let go of that character 16 years ago, and now getting a chance to step back in his shoes as a father this time, in a new story. I get to meet Draco as an adult, which is very exciting.”
Felton famously portrayed Harry Potter’s Hogwarts nemesis in all eight Harry Potter films from 2001 to 2011. “The blonde hair came back on and I immediately started crying for some reason,” he said of returning to his iconic role. “It’s such a huge part of my childhood. It’s like me going back to high school or whatever. I’ve been very excited to share this news. I’ve had to keep it under wraps for quite a while.”
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child originally debuted on London’s West End in 2016. The story picks up during the epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with Harry, Ron and Hermione sending their kids off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The scene appeared in 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, with the main cast, including Felton, portraying older versions of their characters 19 years after Voldemort’s defeat.
The Cursed Child primarily focuses on the friendship between Harry and Ginny’s son Albus and Draco’s son, Scorpius, during their years at Hogwarts. The Slytherin friends set off on a mission to right one of Harry’s most life-changing moments — the death of Cedric Diggory.
“I think none of us expected the Wizarding World to be as popular as it is now,” Felton said on Today. “We thought maybe at the end of the films that that would be the end of it, and clearly, the Wizarding World is alive and strong.”
Guthrie, 53, and Melvin, 46, wrapped up the interview with Felton with a Butterbeer toast “to Draco and his return.”
Though the Harry Potter film series wrapped up over a decade ago, the franchise has continued to grow through the stage show, the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movies, a new themed land at Universal Orlando Resort’s Epic Universe theme park and the upcoming HBO TV series.
The TV reboot has been met with criticism due to author J.K. Rowling’s involvement as an executive producer, as she has faced controversy for her transphobic comments over the years. The show, set to premiere in 2026 or 2027, will dedicate one season to each of Rowling’s seven Harry Potter books.
Newcomers Dominic McLaughlin, Arabella Stanton and Alastair Stout will take on the roles of Harry, Hermione and Ron, respectively, while John Lithgow will portray Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Additional cast members include Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid, Luke Thallon as Quirinus Quirrell and Paul Whitehouse as Argus Filch.
