We’re only days away from the first preview of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two and we now know who will be playing Draco and Scorpius Malfoy – and what their characters look like in costume.
Here we see Malfoy father and son: Alex Price as Harry’s former school nemesis Draco Malfoy, and Anthony Boyle in the role of his son, Scorpius.
Alex Price is no stranger to otherworldly television dramas, having previously appeared in television dramas Merlin, Penny Dreadful and Doctor Who. He is also a prominent force in the theatre, with credits including 3 Winters, Birdland and Before the Party.
Belfast-based actor Anthony Boyle was trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, and has appeared in productions including Herons and East Belfast Boy, the latter of which he co-wrote.
As Scorpius Malfoy, Anthony looks the spitting image of his stage dad. J.K. Rowling said: ‘I love Draco and Scorpius – they actually look related!’
The transformation also presented another challenge for Anthony – going blond.
‘It was such a game changer,’ Anthony said of his new look. ‘As soon as I saw it, it was like, “Okay, I’m playing Scorpius Malfoy – this is real now.” That was such a big moment.’
Just like Albus Severus Potter and Rose Granger-Weasley, Scorpius will wear the Hogwarts uniform during Cursed Child, with a typical Malfoy twist.
‘He’s wearing the official Hogwarts uniform before you go and get sorted into your house. He’s a Malfoy so his clothes should be really expensive but quite constraining to make him feel a bit awkward.’
J.K. Rowling also teased that Scorpius might be a hit with the ladies. She said: ‘I've got a feeling Scorpius is going to do nothing to turn girls off the Malfoy men.’
When asked how he worked on making Draco’s character his own, Alex Price said the script gave him everything he needed.
‘Jack Thorne’s script. Start right there,’ Alex said. ‘And there’s obviously a massive history of books to draw on. You could tie yourself in knots worrying about it. But our first job is to serve this play and J.K. Rowling’s characters as best we can.'
The actor also touched on the pressure behind being part of such a huge production.
‘The world outside has been brilliantly marshalled and been kept away from us by our producers. It’s only slowly starting to rear its head now and it’s intimidating, a little scary, but also very exciting because Jack is such a brilliant writer and he’s taken the story into a great place 19 years later, particularly for Draco.’
‘You can just feel the excitement in the building,’ Anthony added. ‘We’ve been in the Palace Theatre for over four weeks now which is where we can do all the things you couldn’t do in the rehearsal room. We just can’t wait to show it to everyone.’
We can’t wait to find out what Draco and Scorpius Malfoy do next.