Playing Hermione would ‘mean the world’ says nine-year-old Harry Potter hopeful

A nine-year-old girl who has applied for the role of Hermione Granger in the upcoming Harry Potter series said it would “mean the world” to get the part.

A casting call was announced earlier in September for the next Harry, Ron and Hermione to star in HBO’s adaptation of the wizarding world.

The casting call stipulates that applicants must be residents of the UK or Ireland aged between nine and 11 in April 2025, with the deadline for submissions being 31 October.

Carlie Thomas, 36, from Harlington in Bedfordshire, is mum to Elissa Thomas, nine, who has applied for the part of Hermione – both are massive Harry Potter fans.

“I found out about it last week. I think it was on Tiktok,” Ms Thomas, alongside Elissa, told the PA news agency.

“So I sort of lost my mind, because Elissa has been going to performing arts school since she was four. And then she walked in the door, and I told her, and what did you do?”

“Jumped, ran and screamed,” Elissa said.

“Yeah, she ran around the house screaming at the top of her lungs,” Ms Thomas, who works in social media marketing, added.

JK Rowling has said that the new Harry Potter TV series will exceed expectations.

Based on the books by Rowling, the tale of wizards and magic was previously turned into a series of films starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint – the upcoming show is set to feature different stars.

Elissa hopes to play the character Watson made her own: the high-achieving witch Hermione.

“I love the intelligence – her character is really close to me because as I’ve grown up most of my friends have been boys, just like her,” Elissa said.

“Her hand shoots up in the air like sometimes I do in science.”

Ms Thomas added: “She loves school, she loves learning… and she’s a bit bossy! So I think she just relates to Hermione quite a bit.

“We’re all massive, massive Harry Potter nerds. Elissa is the biggest. She’s a super fan.”

To apply for the part, Elissa had to recite a poem or short story and talk about herself briefly, choosing to recite Dreams by Langston Hughes and talk about her family pet, a macaw.

“She did really well,” said Ms Thomas. “We’re on social media anyway and so a lot of our lives I spend filming and putting online, so she was very comfortable in front of the camera.”

Elissa said that being chosen to play Hermione “would mean the world to me, the whole entire world,” while her mother was similarly enthusiastic.

She said: “As a child, it was just such a big thing in my life.

“To be able to see my daughter go off into the wizarding world and pursue her dreams… to be able to watch her go off and be a success in an area that she loves, that’s what’s most important to me.”