Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’s official character portraits have landed

Harry Potter Theatrical Productions has finally unveiled the official portraiture for their upcoming theatre production, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

The portraiture includes the production's three main characters; Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley and their son Albus Severus Potter.

Jamie Parker will play Harry, Poppy Miller will portray Ginny and Sam Clemmett as Albus, and the writer behind the Harry Potter franchise – J.K. Rowling – has seemingly taken a liking to one of them, in particular.

“He simply is Harry now, there's a kind of relief in watching him, he gets it so right" the author said to Pottermore of Parker.

One cannot possibly imagine the ways in which each character will pan out at this stage, especially just by looking through some photographs, and Jamie Parker seemed rather keen to squash the idea that Harry is looking a bit 'corporate' already.

Parker said: “He’s wearing a suit because he’s a Ministry man, but he’s not just a bloke in a suit, that’s way too anonymous,” Parker explained of Harry’s new, adult look. “And it sounds strange but we talked around a lot of different suits, because there are suits and suits, and a lot of them we put on and we went ‘Mmm it’s just not right.’

“With all the character’s costumes we want them to be instantly familiar when people see them, so that people feel like the story’s safe in our hands, and that we’re taking that responsibility seriously.”

Following the success of the Harry Potter films, it could be argued that these actors and actresses face a tall order in their attempt to take the franchise in a different direction, even if it doesn't fit the Hollywood blockbuster mould.

However, it looks like they're keeping things very similar, especially the attire. The photos that have been released so far feature Potter's iconic glasses and scar combination, two aspects of Parker's character that he was keen to translate into theatre.

“They’re just iconic,” Parker said. “These are stories that people have lived with for their whole lives, they’ve grown up with and now they’re adults re-joining the tale, picking it up where they left off and I’m one of them. In a sense you don’t need more than the scar and the glasses, you kind of go, ‘there it is’ and I don’t really know how to put it into words, it’s just immeasurably exciting and I can’t wait to show it to people.

“It’s a unique gig in the sense that you have seven volumes of backstory that you get to bring on with you. And we were all very keen to make sure that the first time you see Harry it just feels right.”

The play is a two-part piece that moves away from the children that we are so familiar with from the books and the films, honing in on Harry's life as a parent and as an adult. We are aware that Potter is now a Ministry of Magic employee, but what will the future hold for his wife and son?

We shall have to wait and see.

Check out the other portraits of Ginny and Albus below:

[Pottermore.com]