Rose Granger Weasley: The Multiracial, Dark Skin Girl In Harry Potter And The Cursed Child

A couple of months ago, I wrote a love letter to Hermione Granger. At this point in time, my love for J.K. Rowling and her casting squad for her new play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (which is premiering in London on July 30 of this year) had tripled or quadrupled. Honestly, I’d bet my weight in butter beer that J.K. and her squad are connecting with Harry Potter fans on a whole new (previously unforeseen) level. If you didn’t already know, Potterheads go hard in the paint. Representation, though…Beautiful unadulterated representation sans white-washing will have POC who were already fans, sanging (yes, sanging… not singing) “Glorrrrayy!” That’s where this next photo comes in.

Yes. That is the Granger-Weasley family. Grown up Ron, grown up Hermione and their baby/tween Rose. They already cast a Black woman as Hermione and now Rose. ROSE!!! Rose is a dark skinned Black girl with two thick and kinky humongous afro puffs, thick lips and a broad nose. She is the product of a mixed race family, but Rose doesn’t look they way most children of mixed race families are often cast. Typically we’re used to the lighter, Cheerios-friendly version of People of Color being portrayed in these (and other) roles. If they had gone with a lighter-skinned version of Rose, a girl who looked a little more “Alicia Keys without makeup,” we would have been okay with that. I would’ve been fine. It would have been a common casting. It would’ve been realistic, right? Right.

Truth is, this cast…