The Potters
Jamie Parker (Harry Potter), Poppy Miller (Ginny Potter) and Sam Clemmett (Albus Severus Potter) are excited to originate the stage roles. "We are very excited about sharing the play with everyone who is coming," Miller says. "All of us are seeing things every day, what other people are doing for the first time on stage, that's making us squeal with excitement. So, bring it on!"
Harry Potter
"These are stories that people have lived with for their whole lives, they've grown up with and now they're adults re-joining the tale, picking it up where they left off and I'm one of them," says Jamie Parker, who plays Harry Potter. "In a sense you don't need more than the scar and the glasses, you kind of go, 'There it is,' and I don't really know how to put it into words. It's just immeasurably exciting and I can't wait to show it to people."
Ginny Potter
J.K. Rowling knew Poppy Miller would be the perfect Ginny Potter. "I think a lot of people would like to have Poppy's Ginny for a mother," she says. "Kind and cool, exactly as I imagined her."
Albus Severus Potter
Sam Clemmett plays Albus Severus Potter, whose character named after Harry's Hogwarts heroes. "There's much I could say about Sam-as-Albus," J.K. Rowling says, "but we'd be into spoiler territory so quickly I'll just say we couldn't have cast better."
The Granger-Weasleys
"It's 19 years later when the play begins. Ron is married to Hermione Granger and they're now the Granger-Weasleys," says Ron Paul Thornley, who stars alongside Noma Dumezweni (Hermione) and Cherrelle Skeete (Rose Granger-Weasley). "Our magnificent daughter Rose Granger-Weasley is about to start at Hogwarts, which is obviously a big day for everyone."
Ron Weasley
"Ron in his 40s isn't very different from Ron in his teens, except that his feet hurt a bit more," J.K. Rowling says of the character, played by Paul Thornley. "Paul's so funny and brilliant in the role."
Hermione Granger
Noma Dumezweni has a fan in J.K. Rowling. "I saw Noma workshop the part and when John Tiffany told me he'd cast her, I was overjoyed," the author says. "She gets Hermione inside out."
Rose Granger-Weasley
"I can't think about how big it is or I'll just faint," actress Cherrelle Skeete says. "Putting on my uniform, ready to go to Hogwarts, and seeing everyone else in their uniform was exciting. I've been looking at it every day in the wardrobe department, waiting for the day I can get on the Hogwarts Express."
The Malfoys
The resemblance between Draco (Alex Price) and his son Scorpius (Anthony Boyle) is uncanny. "They actually look related!" J.K. Rowling says.
Draco Malfoy
"The world outside has been brilliantly marshaled and been kept away from us by our producers," actor Alex Price says. "It's only slowly starting to rear its head now and it's intimidating, a little scary, but also very exciting because Jack [Thorne] is such a brilliant writer and he's taken the story into a great place 19 years later, particularly for Draco."
Scorpius Malfoy
Anthony Boyle went blond for his role. "It was such a game changer," he says. "As soon as I saw it, it was like, 'OK, I'm playing Scorpius Malfoy—this is real now.' That was such a big moment."