Harry Potter: Rupert Grint Wasn’t Prepared For Another Star To Play Ron

From 2001 to 2011, starting at the age of 11, Rupert Grint portrayed Harry Potter and Hermione Granger’s panicky, ginger-haired best friend, Ron Weasley. After spending a decade working on all eight Harry Potter films, you can understand how Grint got attached to role and found it odd seeing Paul Thornley (The Crown) portray an older version of Ron in the stage play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

“I wasn’t really prepared for it,” Grint told EW. “It hit me quite hard. It was kind of like an out of body experience. You’re seeing someone else take on a character that you’ve known for so long. I kind of grew up with Ron. I do feel like a lot of me is in that character. I have a weird relationship with Ron, where it’s kind of basically me. And seeing it live on is very surreal. But it’s an amazing show. I actually loved it. It blows your mind to see this magic world on stage live in front of you. It’s amazing. It just shows how clever J.K. (Rowling) is to be reinventing it and making it live on in something different. It’s amazing.”

It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children. While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.

Directed by John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a new play — presented in two parts and intended to be seen in order on the same day or on two consecutive nights — by Jack Thorne based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany. Its world premiere was in London’s West End at the Palace Theatre in the summer of 2016 and is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage.

Jamie Parker, Noma Dumezweni and Paul Thornley star as Harry, Hermione and Ron.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is reportedly coming to Broadway in spring 2018.