J.K. Rowling And Fans Re-Imagine Racially Diverse 'Harry Potter' Cast

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For whatever reason, some pockets of the Harry Potter fanbase are struggling with the news that in the upcoming theatrical production Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, adult Hermione will be played by a black woman.

The news that Noma Dumezweni would portray Miss Granger was greeted with a mixed reaction online.

Not one to shy away from any debate revolving around her globally successful story, J.K. Rowling has weighed in with her thoughts on the matter.

Canon: brown eyes, frizzy hair and very clever. White skin was never specified. Rowling loves black Hermione ? https://t.co/5fKX4InjTH
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 21, 2015

Pretty conclusive, and many fans have proclaimed their appreciation of the author’s unprejudiced response to the casting.

@jdesecillon @jk_rowling red played by Morgan freeman in the shawshank redemption was a white ginger man in the book. Who cares ? No one
— Shaun Browne (@shaun_402) December 22, 2015

@jdesecillon @jk_rowling She said race was not specified, not that she is required to be a black person. Why do you need her to be white?
— Aaron Kv-L (@bozeman42) December 22, 2015

@jk_rowling I just started to sob. I spent last night reading horrible comments about the casting from so-called fans. Thank you for this.
— Fe5e-3PO (@theefefe) December 21, 2015

Some have argued against Rowling’s explanation, citing that she does specify Hermione’s race.

.@jk_rowling white skin was specified in Prisoner of Azkaban!! pic.twitter.com/uMWo0EfWPL
— Martirosyan (@martiros_yan) December 21, 2015

Thankfully large swathes of people aren’t as immovable and have imaginations capable of accepting interpretation as a major factor within any piece of literature.

Many even took the opportunity to voice their own thoughts on how characters from the beloved books could in fact be from other ethnic backgrounds.

Hi @jk_rowling Black Hermione is cool but could we talk about "Hamid" Potter ?Because i truly think Harry is Moroccan and Real name is Hamid
— Sebastien-Abdelhamid (@SAbdelhamid) December 21, 2015

@SAbdelhamid @jk_rowling Lies, Harry is from India and his real name is Hari Prasad.
— Karthik TMuthu (@KarthikTmuthu) December 22, 2015

@KarthikTmuthu @jk_rowling @SAbdelhamid Nah, he's from Brazil and his name is Reury Silva
— fer (@jamespottwr) December 22, 2015

#BlackHarryPotter #LunaLovegood pic.twitter.com/pjp3NhKUzW
— hermione granger (@thepaperframes) December 21, 2015

@KarthikTmuthu @jk_rowling @SAbdelhamid hahahahahah holy Lord! And Ronald Weasely is Rohan Sharma :P
— Snehadeep Kayet (@SnehadeepKayet) December 22, 2015

Good old J.K. even joined in to critique the suggestions.