• By MuggleNet Editorial Staff
• 15 Sep, 2026
• Cursed Child

The first cast for London’s reimagined one-part production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has been announced, with Ethan Rouse set to play Albus Potter and Bill Stanley taking on the role of Scorpius Malfoy when the new version begins performances October 9.

The change marks one of the biggest shifts in the history of the West End production, which opened in 2016 and has spent the past decade asking audiences to make a considerably larger-than-usual theatrical commitment: two plays, two tickets, and more than five hours of stage time.

Before that new chapter begins, however, the original two-part production has one last week at the Palace Theatre. Its final performances will take place September 20, bringing its 10-year London run to a close.

Meet the New Cursed Child Cast

Joining Rouse and Stanley are Zoë Rainey as Ginny Potter, Hasia Akwaboah as Rose Granger-Weasley, and Adam Jackson-Smith as Draco Malfoy.

Several members of the current company will remain with the production for its new incarnation. David Ricardo-Pearce continues as Harry Potter, Thomas Aldridge as Ron Weasley, and Naana Agyei Ampadu as Hermione Granger.

Rouse has worked on screen since childhood, with credits including Love, Nina and Where Hands Touch. Rainey brings extensive West End experience to Ginny, including appearances in Wicked, An American in Paris, Mean Girls, and Kenneth Branagh’s productions of Romeo and Juliet and The Winter’s Tale.

Jackson-Smith, meanwhile, recently originated the role of Basil Fawlty in the West End production of Fawlty Towers – The Play. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and has worked extensively across theater and television.

For Akwaboah, Rose represents a particularly notable early-career role. She is part of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama’s 2026 acting class and was a finalist for the 2025 Stephen Sondheim Society Performer of the Year competition.

The company will also include Dewayne Jameson Adams, David Annen, Jacqueline Beaumont, Jensen Bedford, Angeline Bell, Tatum Confrey, Robert Curtis, Nick Dennington, Shakhai Estwick, Miah Hasselbaink, Tim Hibberd, Becky Hoyle, Max Hutchinson, Danny Ivy, Emma Louise Jones, Laura June Ness, Louise Ludgate, Shreya Lallu, Nathan Muwowo, Jocelyn Prah, Claire Redcliffe, Ewan Rutherford, Joshua Talbot, Nathaniel Tan, Callum Tempest, Alex Tomkins, Jake Tuesley, and Aidan Garrett Wilkins.

From Two Parts to One Night at the Theatre

While the one-part version of Cursed Child are no longer new to audiences elsewhere in the world, it is to London. The Palace Theatre is where the play premiered in 2016, and London remained the home of the original two-part format even as shortened versions were introduced in other markets.

The outgoing production runs approximately five hours and 15 minutes across its two parts, not counting the two-hour dinner break between performances. Its replacement will run two hours and 55 minutes total, including an interval. Want to learn about what changed between versions? We put together an explainer here. When announcing the new format earlier this year, producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender said the goal was to make the production more accessible while retaining its large-scale stagecraft, illusions, and emotional core.

The End of an Era at the Palace Theatre

The format change arrives just after Cursed Child celebrated its 10th anniversary in London.

According to the production, more than 14 million people have now seen Harry Potter and the Cursed Child around the world, including more than 2.5 million in London. The show won a record nine Olivier Awards following its West End debut and six Tony Awards after reaching Broadway.

The original production was an unusually ambitious piece of commercial theater from the beginning. It built much of its reputation around theatrical magic: characters disappearing in full view of an audience, rapid transformations, time travel, Dementors, dueling, and enough other stage spells that figuring out how it all works has become its own post-show pastime.

Even after London switches formats, Cursed Child remains very much an international production. Versions are currently running in London, New York, Tokyo, the Netherlands, and on a North American tour, following previous productions in cities including Melbourne, San Francisco, Toronto, and Hamburg.

The play, written by Jack Thorne from an original story by J.K. Rowling, Thorne, and director John Tiffany, picks up 19 years after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Its story centers largely on Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy, whose relationship pulls their parents back into problems they had hoped were safely in the past.

The reimagined Harry Potter and the Cursed Child begins performances October 9 at London’s Palace Theatre and is currently booking through June 27, 2027. Tickets start at £25, and the new production plays Tuesday through Saturday evenings, with Wednesday and Saturday matinees and a Sunday matinee.

Photo by Matt Crockett, courtesy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

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