50 Fun Facts About Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

In Cursed Child, the Sorting Hat breaks a Potter family tradition by placing Albus in which house?

Slytherin takes Albus alongside his new friend Scorpius Malfoy, the boy he met on the Hogwarts Express that morning. Both are bullied for years afterwards, Albus for failing to live up to his parents.

Which Harry Potter film actor joined Cursed Child on Broadway in November 2025, reprising his screen role?

Tom Felton came back as Draco Malfoy, this time as a grown father, and the show's weekly grosses more than doubled once he arrived.

In Cursed Child's darkest timeline, what does Cedric become after the boys wreck his second task?

A Death Eater Cedric kills Neville Longbottom at the Battle of Hogwarts, so Nagini is never destroyed and Voldemort wins. Harry dies, Albus is never born and Scorpius returns alone to the wreckage.

Cursed Child's villain Delphi is Voldemort's daughter; which of his followers is her mother?

Bellatrix Lestrange is named when Delphi pleads for acceptance from the figure she takes for Voldemort, who is really Harry in disguise.

In which village does the final duel with Delphi take place in Cursed Child?

Godric's Hollow in 1981 is where Delphi hopes to stop Voldemort attacking the Potters; Harry lures her out disguised as Voldemort, then has to let his parents' murder play out.

Which playwright wrote the script of Cursed Child?

Jack Thorne wrote it because J. K. Rowling told the producers from the start that she was no playwright; she shares only the story credit with him and the director. He later co-wrote Netflix's Adolescence.

Which high office does Hermione hold when the main story of Cursed Child begins?

Minister of Magic Hermione keeps a confiscated Time-Turner locked in her office, which is exactly where Albus, Scorpius and Delphi go to steal it.

Which Cambridge Circus venue, built for Richard D'Oyly Carte, hosts Cursed Child in the West End?

The Palace Theatre opened in 1891 as the Royal English Opera House, failed as a home for English opera and was turned into a variety theatre the following year.

What did Cursed Child's original Albus and Scorpius actors eat on stage in place of Gillyweed?

Apple skin won out over real seaweed and samphire, the edible options the two actors were offered to stand in for the underwater-breathing plant.

Rowling defended whose casting as Cursed Child's Hermione by noting her skin was never specified as white?

Noma Dumezweni answered the row on stage: she won the 2017 Olivier for Best Supporting Actress as Hermione and took the part to Broadway.

Which Broadway house was rebuilt with fewer seats for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child?

The Lyric Theatre's $33 million rebuild moved its entrance from 42nd to 43rd Street and pushed the play's opening cost to about $68 million, then the most for any Broadway non-musical.

Which hashtag did J. K. Rowling promote to ask Cursed Child audiences not to spoil the play's twists?

#KeepTheSecrets began with a plea from J. K. Rowling on Twitter, and audiences at the first previews were handed badges carrying the slogan.

Which Harry Potter film director called a Cursed Child movie 'never going to happen' in 2025?

Chris Columbus, who had hoped to film it with the original cast, said the actors' differences with J. K. Rowling's views now made that impossible.

Which British singer-songwriter composed the music for Cursed Child?

Imogen Heap, the voice of 'Hide and Seek', learned the creative team was already using her old tracks, then reworked her back catalogue into the score.

What cruel thing does Harry say to Albus during their row in Cursed Child?

Wishing he were not his son is what Harry blurts out, and Albus spills Ron's love potion over a gift from his father in his fury. The line is the wound the rest of the play tries to heal.

Which senior Ministry post does Harry hold in Cursed Child?

Head of Magical Law Enforcement Harry has just confiscated a prototype Time-Turner, and his refusal to use it for a grieving father is what sets Albus off on the whole plot.

Which ageing wizard, cared for by a niece called Delphi, begs Harry in Cursed Child to save his son?

Amos Diggory has been bewitched: Delphi is no relation of his, and she needs a grieving father's plea to put a Time-Turner in two teenagers' hands.

Which director, who shares Cursed Child's story credit with J. K. Rowling, staged the play in London and on Broadway?

John Tiffany reunited with a friend he had made at 15 in a Huddersfield youth choir, his partner on Black Watch and Once, who became the play's movement director.

Which Belfast-born actor, later in Masters of the Air, originated Scorpius Malfoy in Cursed Child?

Anthony Boyle had been performing a one-man show in a Belfast community centre the summer before, and won the audition while finishing drama school.

What does Ron Weasley do for a living in Cursed Child?

Runs the family joke shop: Ron manages Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes with his brother George, though once the boys meddle with time he is married to Padma Patil instead of Hermione.

In Cursed Child, what kills Scorpius Malfoy's mother Astoria while the boys are still at school?

A blood curse inherited through Astoria's family claims her, leaving Scorpius grieving a mother while the rumour that he is really Voldemort's son follows him around the school.

In Cursed Child, what tempted Draco to use the perfected Time-Turner he kept hidden?

Seeing his dead wife again is the temptation Draco resists, and he hides the device because admitting it exists would feed the rumour that Scorpius was conceived with a Time-Turner.

While Harry works at the Ministry in Cursed Child, what job does Ginny Potter hold?

Sports editor of the Daily Prophet Ginny is also the parent who talks Harry down when he tries to force the school to keep Albus and Scorpius apart.

On their first trip back in Cursed Child, Albus and Scorpius pose as students of which school?

The Durmstrang disguises backfire: they make Hermione suspicious of Viktor Krum, so she goes to the Yule Ball with Ron, Ron never feels jealous, and the two never marry.

After the first meddling in Cursed Child, Ron never marries Hermione; what has she become instead?

A frustrated Hogwarts professor Hermione is the price of Ron falling for Padma Patil at the Yule Ball instead, and in the same timeline Albus finds himself sorted into Gryffindor.

Which teacher who dies in the books is alive and aiding the resistance in Cursed Child's dark timeline?

Severus Snape survives in the world where Voldemort won, and his sacrifice, alongside alternative versions of Ron and Hermione, is what lets Scorpius undo the damage and restore the original timeline.

What does the centaur Bane see around Harry's son Albus in Cursed Child?

A dark cloud is Bane's warning, and with Harry's nightmares about Voldemort it convinces him that Scorpius is the danger, so he tries to have the two boys kept apart at Hogwarts.

In Cursed Child, Albus steals Harry's old Invisibility Cloak to reach Scorpius; who had it?

His older brother James is the one holding the Cloak, and the theft reunites the friends just before their second, far more disastrous, trip into the past.

Stranded decades in the past in Cursed Child, on what do Albus and Scorpius write an invisible message?

Harry's old baby blanket is the only thing the boys know will survive the years, because the love potion Albus spilled on it in the present will stain the words into view.

In Cursed Child, which Hogwarts Express fixture turns on the boys trying to leave the train early?

The Trolley Witch tells the boys the train does not like students leaving early, turns her hands into spikes and reveals her Pumpkin Pasties double as grenades.

In Cursed Child, Delphi's tattoo of which mournful bird marks her as the dark timeline's ruler?

An Augurey tattoo gives Delphi away: Scorpius has seen the same bird as the emblem of 'the Augurey', the witch who ran the Ministry under Voldemort.

Under Croaker's Law in Cursed Child, how far back can a time traveller safely go?

Five hours is the safe limit, yet the stolen prototype drags its users back to the present after only five minutes in the past.

In Cursed Child, what in Delphi's room proves she is Voldemort's daughter?

Hidden writing on her bedroom walls spells out both her parentage and a prophecy of Voldemort's return, but not where she has taken the boys.

Which original History Boys actor won the 2017 Olivier for Best Actor as Cursed Child's adult Harry?

Jamie Parker beat a shortlist of Sir Ian McKellen, Tom Hollander and Ed Harris to the award.

Released on Harry's birthday in 2016, what was Cursed Child's first script-book printing titled?

The Special Rehearsal Edition matched the script used in previews; it was Amazon's most pre-ordered book of 2016 and sold over 2 million copies in North America in two days.

Which material was cut when Cursed Child was condensed into a single 3.5-hour show in 2021?

Harry's dream sequences went, and with them young Harry, the Dursleys and Hagrid, as the two-part play was squeezed into a single evening.

Which Melbourne venue was remade for Cursed Child and hosted it for four years until July 2023?

The Princess Theatre staging was the first Cursed Child anywhere to reopen after the pandemic shutdown, in February 2021, and it never toured: when it closed, the play left Australia.

Which Geary Street venue, sold to the San Francisco Giants in 2025, hosted Cursed Child from 2019?

The Curran Theatre run crashed ticketing systems when sales opened and closed in September 2022 after 393 performances; its set was later shipped to the Netherlands for a Dutch production.

Which West End producer brought Cursed Child to the stage with Colin Callender?

Sonia Friedman and Callender won J. K. Rowling over after she had received countless approaches to stage Harry Potter; she said theirs was the only vision that made sense to her.

Cursed Child was announced on 26 June 2015, the eighteenth anniversary of what?

The first novel's publication on 26 June 1997 gave the announcement its date, and Rowling promised the play would be an entirely new story rather than a prequel.

When the play that became Cursed Child was announced in 2013, what was it said to explore?

Harry's early years as an orphan and outcast were the announced subject, but by 2015 Rowling was insisting the play was no prequel, and it opened as a story about his son.

Which Cursed Child production cast multiple actors to share each lead role, with three playing Harry?

Tokyo's staging was mounted by the broadcaster TBS to mark its 70th anniversary, and TBS refitted its Akasaka theatre as a venue for this play alone.

Which portmanteau is the usual fan name for the Albus–Scorpius pairing at the heart of Cursed Child?

Scorbus fans point to the one-part revision, in which Albus tells Harry that Scorpius will always be the most important person in his life and Harry responds warmly.

Which actor from Netflix's Queen Charlotte originated Albus in Cursed Child?

Sam Clemmett, Queen Charlotte's young Brimsley, was one of seven original London cast members who took their roles to Broadway when the play opened there in 2018.

Which actress originated Delphi in Cursed Child before leading the comedy series Trying as Nikki?

Esther Smith played the play's secret villain in London from the first preview, having earlier been a sitcom regular in BBC Three's Cuckoo and Uncle.

Which Frantic Assembly co-founder served as Cursed Child's movement director and choreographer?

Steven Hoggett and Scott Graham performed in the 1994 Look Back in Anger that launched Frantic Assembly, and in those early shows did the lights, sound, sets and van driving themselves.

Which Toronto venue, a 1920 vaudeville house once named for Alexander Pantages, staged Cursed Child from 2022?

The Ed Mirvish Theatre lost Hamilton to the pandemic shutdown in March 2020 and reopened with the play in 2022 after a $5 million refit; its producer credited the show with relaunching large-scale theatre in Toronto.

Which Hogwarts prefect does Delphi kill in Cursed Child while taking the boys captive?

Craig Bowker Jr, sent to look for the boys, dies in front of Albus and Scorpius, the moment Delphi stops pretending to be anyone's helper.

In Cursed Child's dark timeline, Head Boy Scorpius leads which revived student group for Headmistress Umbridge?

The Inquisitorial Squad, Umbridge's student police from the books, patrols with Dementors in a Hogwarts where Scorpius is a popular Quidditch star helping torment Muggle-borns.

Which country's planned 2025 Cursed Child, set to be Latin America's first, was cancelled before opening?

Brazil's São Paulo production had already chosen its Harry, Hugo Bonemer, who said he learned he had the part only by reading about the cancellation in a newspaper.