Rupert Grint Is Ron Weasley Again — 15 Years After Harry Potter Ended, He Is Returning to the Role

First Draco, Now Ron: Harry Potter’s Original Stars Are Returning to Their Iconic Roles

Grint Returns to Hogwarts

Rupert Grint is officially returning to Ron Weasley, more than 15 years after audiences last saw him play the character in a Harry Potter film. The actor will step into the grown-up Ron’s shoes for a limited Broadway run of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in New York from February 2 to May 30, 2027.

It is far more significant than another Harry Potter anniversary appearance. Grint is actually playing Ron again, continuing the character’s story as an adult and becoming the second major member of the original film cast to reprise a famous Wizarding World role on the Broadway stage after Tom Felton returned as Draco Malfoy.

Ron Weasley Is Really Coming Back

Grint played Ron throughout all eight Harry Potter films, beginning as an 11-year-old alongside Daniel Radcliffe's Harry Potter and Emma Watson's Hermione Granger. That screen journey ended with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 in 2011, turning Ron into the character with which Grint remains most closely associated.

Now the separation between actor and character is being deliberately collapsed. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child takes place 19 years after the events of the original story, meaning Grint will not be attempting to recreate the schoolboy Ron audiences remember. He will be playing the older husband and father the story eventually made him.

That distinction matters. Grint has appeared alongside former cast members since the films ended, most notably in the 2022 Return to Hogwarts retrospective, but appearing in a reunion programme is fundamentally different from performing new material as Ron Weasley.

This time he is going back into character.

Grint Says the Return Feels ‘Full-Circle’

Grint described Ron as a character who has been part of him since childhood and said there was something particularly powerful about returning now that both he and Ron are fathers.

“Ron Weasley has been a part of me since I was 11 years old and I can’t wait to meet him again in this stage of life,” Grint said in the announcement. He described stepping back into the role as both familiar and completely new.

There is an unusual symmetry to it. Grint was effectively growing up alongside Ron during the films; now, after more than a decade building an adult life and career beyond Hogwarts, he will encounter the character at another comparable stage.

That makes the casting particularly well suited to Cursed Child. The play is built around ageing, parenthood, family history and what happens when the children who defeated Voldemort have to live with the consequences and legends their younger selves created.

Why Cursed Child Changes the Return

The stage story is not a remake of the original Harry Potter films. Harry, Ron and Hermione are adults while a new generation — particularly Harry's son Albus Potter and Draco Malfoy's son Scorpius — becomes central to a story involving friendship, family and attempts to change the past.

That allows Grint to return without pretending the intervening years never happened. His age becomes an asset to the character rather than an obstacle.

Producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender said his casting creates a bridge between the story audiences originally knew and Cursed Child's themes of family, legacy and the passage of time. They also pointed to the experience Grint has accumulated across film, television and theatre since leaving Ron behind.

For Grint, Broadway itself is not new territory. He previously appeared there in It’s Only a Play after making his West End stage debut in Mojo. This return therefore combines two different parts of his career: the character that made him internationally famous and the theatre work he pursued after Harry Potter ended.

First Draco, Now Ron

The casting also establishes an increasingly striking pattern.

Tom Felton has already returned to Draco Malfoy in the Broadway production, making him the first major original film actor to reprise his character in Cursed Child. Grint will now become the second.

Felton's involvement demonstrated the commercial power of placing the actors audiences grew up watching directly inside the stage continuation of the story. His Broadway stint generated a significant box-office boost, giving producers an obvious reason to recognise the extraordinary demand that an original cast return can create.

Grint arguably represents an even bigger emotional step. Ron was one of the central trio across all eight films rather than an occasional rival or supporting character. His return therefore brings one of the three characters at the absolute centre of the original saga into the continuing theatrical story.

It inevitably raises a much larger question: if Draco and Ron can come back, who could be next?

There Is One Catch to the Harry Potter Reunion

Anyone immediately imagining Grint and Felton standing together as Ron and Draco should temper expectations.

Felton's currently announced run as Draco ends on January 3, 2027. Grint does not begin playing Ron until February 2, almost a month later. On the existing schedule, there is therefore no crossover between the two original actors.

That could change only if further casting announcements are made. Nothing announced so far establishes that Felton will extend his run, nor is there confirmation that Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson or other central original cast members are joining Grint.

The significance should therefore not be inflated into an original-cast reunion that does not yet exist. What has happened is still remarkable enough: two major actors from the film era have now independently agreed to become their characters again on Broadway.

Harry Potter Is Entering a New Era

The timing is particularly notable because the broader Harry Potter franchise is simultaneously preparing for its biggest transformation since the original films.

The first Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone film reaches its 25th anniversary in 2026, while the new HBO television adaptation of the books is in production ahead of its planned 2027 debut. That series introduces an entirely new generation of performers as Harry, Ron, Hermione and the other familiar characters.

The result is a curious overlap. A new Ron Weasley will soon begin his own version of the story on television while Grint returns to portray the original film incarnation as an adult on Broadway.

Rather than replacing the old Harry Potter era outright, the franchise is beginning to operate across generations. One version is starting again from childhood while another is showing what became of the characters audiences already spent a decade watching grow up.

When Rupert Grint Will Play Ron Weasley

Grint's engagement begins at New York City's Lyric Theatre on Tuesday, February 2, 2027 and is scheduled to finish on Sunday, May 30. The run is limited to 17 weeks.

Fans can register for access to the ticket presale, which begins on September 1, 2026, with general ticket sales scheduled to open the following day.

That limited window is likely to make the engagement feel more like an event than a conventional replacement casting. It also means anyone wanting to see the original Ron Weasley inhabit the character again will have only a few months in which to do it.

The Bigger Question Is Who Comes Back Next

Grint's return matters because a barrier that once seemed difficult to cross is disappearing. For years, the original Potter actors largely built careers away from the characters that made them famous. Now Cursed Child has created a credible way for those performers to return without simply recreating their childhood performances.

Felton opened that door. Grint is walking through it next.

There is no confirmation that Radcliffe or Watson intends to follow them, and their involvement should not be assumed. But after two original film actors have agreed to play their characters again, the possibility of further returns no longer feels purely hypothetical.

For now, the announcement stands on its own. More than 15 years after the film series ended, audiences are going to see Rupert Grint walk onto a stage, enter the Harry Potter story and become Ron Weasley again.