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 as Draco Malfoy?

Tom Felton was the first actor from the films to play his role on stage, and the show's weekly grosses more than doubled, from $1.3 million to $2.6 million, 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 bore Voldemort's child, a twist the official site calls the product of "an apparently brief incident"; Harry's scar starts hurting again as Delphi's plan advances.

How many Olivier Awards did Cursed Child win in 2017, a record for a single production?

Nine Olivier wins from a record eleven nominations overtook Matilda and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which had each won seven.

Which playwright, who later co-wrote Netflix's Adolescence, wrote the script of Cursed Child?

Jack Thorne is credited as sole scriptwriter, working from a story he built with J. K. Rowling and the director; his other screen work includes Wonder, Enola Holmes and His Dark Materials.

Nineteen years after the Battle of Hogwarts, what post does Hermione hold in Cursed Child?

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 and later housed Les Misérables for nineteen years before the play arrived in 2016.

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, who arrived in England as a seven-year-old refugee, went on to win the Olivier for Best Supporting Actress for the role, her second Olivier.

Which Broadway house lost 400 seats in a $68 million rebuild for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child?

The Lyric Theatre overhaul made Cursed Child the most expensive non-musical play in Broadway history by the New York Times's estimate, before it opened there in April 2018.

Which hashtag, printed on every Cursed Child ticket, asks audiences not to spoil the play's twists?

#KeepTheSecrets even comes with a follow-up: online ticket buyers are emailed a video of J. K. Rowling after the show asking them to support the campaign.

Which director of the first two Potter films called a Cursed Child movie 'never going to happen' in 2025?

Chris Columbus had floated directing such a film in 2021 with the original actors returning, and Daniel Radcliffe told the New York Times in 2022 he was not interested for now.

Which singer-songwriter behind 'Hide and Seek' composed the music for Cursed Child?

Imogen Heap's score earned a 2020 Grammy nomination for Best Musical Theater Album, a rare honour for a play rather than a musical.

In their worst row in Cursed Child, what does Harry Potter say to Albus that neither can take back?

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 Ministry post does Harry hold in Cursed Child, putting the seized Time-Turner on his desk?

Head of Magical Law Enforcement Harry has just confiscated a prototype Time-Turner, and his refusal to use it for Cedric's 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 of Black Watch and the musical Once staged Cursed Child in London and on Broadway?

John Tiffany collected both the 2017 Olivier and the 2018 Tony for directing the play, a double that made him one of the few to win both for a single production.

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

Anthony Boyle used a wheelchair for several years as a child because of a bone condition, and says improvising dialogue while watching other children play is how he learned to act.

How many Tony Awards, including Best Play, did Cursed Child collect at the 72nd ceremony in 2018?

Six Tonys from ten nominations made it the night's second-biggest winner behind The Band's Visit, which took ten; the wins covered direction and all four design categories for a play.

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.

Draco admits in Cursed Child he owns a perfected Time-Turner he never used; what tempted him to try?

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.

Which centaur tells Harry Potter in Cursed Child that a 'dark cloud' hangs around his son Albus?

Bane's warning, on top of Harry's nightmares about Voldemort, convinces Harry that Scorpius is the danger and sends him to McGonagall to demand the boys be kept apart.

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, whose cart of Cauldron Cakes and Chocolate Frogs was 'always a welcome appearance', shows the boys a very different side, a talent the official encyclopaedia files under self-transfiguration.

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

An Augurey, the greyish-green 'Irish Phoenix', is the mark Voldemort's followers wear in the play, and 'The Augurey' is the title the dark timeline's leader goes by.

Under Croaker's Law in Cursed Child, how far into the past can any legal Time-Turner travel?

Five hours is the legal limit, yet the stolen prototype turns out to be a cheap job that drags its users back to the present after only five minutes in the past.

When the adults search Delphi's room in Cursed Child, what proves she is Voldemort's daughter?

Hidden writing on her bedroom walls spells out both her parentage and a prophecy of Voldemort's return, which is how the adults work out she is heading for the night of the Potters' deaths.

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

Jamie Parker had played the Prince Hal story through to Henry V at Shakespeare's Globe before becoming the first stage Harry, and he earned a Tony nomination when the role moved to Broadway.

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

The Special Rehearsal Edition, published on 31 July 2016, was CNN's most preordered book of that year and sold over 2 million copies in the US and Canada in two days before a corrected text followed in 2017.

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

Harry's dream sequences with young Harry, the Dursleys and Hagrid went, along with over an hour and a half of other material, and every other production has since adopted the cut-down version.

Which Melbourne venue, mainland Australia's oldest surviving entertainment site, hosted Cursed Child?

The Princess Theatre run became Australia's longest-running stage play, selling over one million tickets across roughly 1,300 performances.

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 Cursed Child producer did the New York Times dub 'the most powerful producer working in theater'?

Sonia Friedman produces the play with former HBO Films president Colin Callender, and her company's record haul of Olivier Awards includes the nine the play won in a single night.

Cursed Child's premiere was announced on 26 June 2015; the date marked 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.

How many Cursed Child tickets sold in under eight hours of priority booking in 2015, before public sale?

175,000 tickets went in that first window, and the booking period was extended three times within weeks, eventually running through May 2017.

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

Tokyo's TBS Akasaka ACT Theater was rebuilt as a site-specific Potter venue for its 70th anniversary, and former SMAP idol Goro Inagaki joined as Harry for the fourth year in 2025.

What portmanteau do fans use for the Albus–Scorpius pairing at the heart of Cursed Child?

Scorbus became so popular that the play was accused of queerbaiting, and the one-part revision has Albus tell Harry that Scorpius is the most important person in his life, which Harry warmly accepts.

Which actor originated Albus in Cursed Child before playing young Brimsley in Queen Charlotte?

Sam Clemmett, from Brundall near Norwich, took Albus from the West End to Broadway and in Queen Charlotte played the series' first LGBT romance.

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, John Tiffany's collaborator on Black Watch and Once, ran a different workout for the cast every day of the week, bookended by yoga, to keep them fit for the show's physical demands.

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

The Ed Mirvish Theatre run set the record for the longest-running professional play in Canadian history, closing in July 2023 after roughly 444 performances.

Which rule-abiding Hogwarts student does Delphi kill in Cursed Child while taking the boys captive?

Craig Bowker Jr, last seen scolding Harry for breaking into a dormitory at night, 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, the play's first in Latin America, was cancelled over a lack of sponsorship?

Brazil's São Paulo production had already cast its Harry, Hugo Bonemer, who said he only learned he had the part when the show was halted in March 2025.