Draco Malfoy actor Tom Felton to reprise role in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Tom Felton is to reprise his role as Draco Malfoy for the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play.

The actor, who starred in all the film adaptations of JK Rowling’s fantasy novels, will make a comeback as Harry Potter’s school bully on Broadway at the Lyric theatre in New York later this year.

The production said he was the first actor from the films to reprise their role on stage, in what will be Felton’s Broadway debut.

He said: “Being a part of the Harry Potter films has been one of the greatest honours of my life. Joining this production will be a full-circle moment for me, because when I begin performances in Cursed Child this fall, I’ll also be the exact age Draco is in the play.

“It’s surreal to be stepping back into his shoes – and of course his iconic platinum blond hair – and I am thrilled to be able to see his story through and to share it with the greatest fan community in the world. I look forward to joining this incredible company and being a part of the Broadway community.”

Felton, 37, made his West End debut in the supernatural thriller 2:22: A Ghost Story in 2022. He would begin his run in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on 11 November for a limited 19 weeks, the production said on Thursday.

The show’s producers, Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender, said: “Tom’s return to Hogwarts bridges generations of fans and breathes new life into a beloved story. We’re beyond thrilled to welcome Tom back ‘home’ but also into a new family: our Broadway company.”

The play, written by Jack Thorne – co-creator of this year’s hit Netflix drama Adolescence – opened in 2016 in London and has had a Broadway run since 2018. It was co-devised by Rowling and is set 19 years after the events of the final book, with Potter now a Ministry of Magic employee who, along with his wife, Ginny Weasley, must send their youngest son, Albus Severus, off to school.

In the two-part play, which stretches over five hours, Albus struggles with the weight of his family legacy at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and goes to extreme and dangerous lengths to right the wrongs of the past.

Since the ending of the film franchise, Felton has been in 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes and had recurring roles in the TV series Murder in the First, The Flash and Origin.

The seven Harry Potter books are being brought to the small screen by HBO, with production beginning this summer at Warner Bros Studios Leavesden in the UK.