Rupert Grint’s return as Ron Weasley brings a familiar face back to the Harry Potter universe—but the 2027 Broadway engagement is drawing both enthusiastic support and renewed scrutiny.
Grint will play the adult Ron in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at New York’s Lyric Theatre from February 2 through May 30, following Tom Felton’s run as Draco Malfoy. The play is set 19 years after the original story, with Ron and Hermione married and raising a daughter who attends Hogwarts. Grint is the only member of the original trio currently scheduled to reprise his film role onstage.
Supportive coverage has emphasized the personal and professional significance of the move. Grint said Ron “has been a part of me since I was 11 years old” and that returning to the character as a father felt “both very familiar and completely new.”1 Producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender likewise described the casting as a “powerful bridge” between the original films and the play’s themes of “family, legacy and the passage of time.”1
Other coverage has focused more narrowly on the nostalgia of seeing a major film star revisit a defining role. One account called the return “full-circle” and noted Grint’s comment that he could not wait to meet Ron again “in this stage of life.”2 That framing contrasts with a more critical report, whose headline said Grint was “under fire” for reprising the role, although it provided no further detail about the criticism.3
The announcement also carries an added cultural context: Grint has publicly supported transgender people and distanced himself from author J.K. Rowling’s views on transgender issues. For fans, the Broadway appearance is therefore simultaneously a celebration of the original cast’s legacy and a reminder of the disputes that continue to surround the franchise.