The actor who brought Draco Malfoy to life in every Harry Potter movie is back in the role for the first time in 14 years, and his long-awaited return has resulted in an emotional moment for franchise icon Tom Felton. With the beloved fantasy saga currently undergoing its second live-action adaptation of J.K. Rowling's book series, Felton has recently been replaced by newcomer Lox Pratt. However, that hasn't stopped Felton from once more stepping into the shoes of the character that made him famous.
In June 2025, Felton was announced as coming back to Harry Potter to reprise his role, this time on Broadway. On November 11, he made his debut in the Cursed Child stage production as an older version of Draco Malfoy in a story set 19 years after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The audience's reception to Felton's return to the Wizarding World was very emotionally-fuelled, and entirely expected if you ask me.
Raucous applause halted The Cursed Child during Felton's first scene back as Draco Malfoy
As Tom Felton stepped onto the Lyric Theater's stage in New York City, The Cursed Child was forced to take a notable reprieve as the crowd celebrated the actor's Harry Potter return by way of applause. Felton was a consummate professional and remained in character as he waited for a suitable time to resume. That said, it's fairly evident that he was grinning on the inside.
I still struggle to imagine how anyone can top Felton's performances as Draco Malfoy, so I would definitely be among those cheering with glee if I got to see him do it again — especially in person. With the Harry Potter movies now a complete project, The Cursed Child was the only real chance of seeing the British actor playing the character again, and I love that he's getting the opportunity to do it, almost a decade after the play opened in London in 2016.
What I find coolest about Tom Felton's role in The Cursed Child
When The Cursed Child came into existence, it had been years since fans had been given a new Harry Potter story, as the final book in the series was published in 2007. So, rumors started to swirl of the script being adapted to serve as a sequel to the eighth and final movie, uniting the original cast. Such a project never happened, and the play has only ever been available on the stage or as a script bound in book form. Although Felton isn't reprising his role on the big screen, the fact that he's doing it at all gives fans the closest thing they'll probably ever get to seeing the adaptation that never was.
Secondly, The Cursed Child is a canonical sequel to the Harry Potter books, NOT the movies. The source material and the feature-length adaptations boast incredibly similar storylines, but some changes were made when the movies were written, so they must be treated as separate from each other. Because of this quirk, while Felton's role as Draco makes it seem like a continuation of the Harry Potter movies, his casting in the play is more of a gentle tapping of the fourth wall.
As such, from an incredibly meta perspective, it could be argued that Felton is now the only figure to "exist" within the continuity of the Harry Potter books AND the movies. The passage of time in the real world has also contributed to this possibility, as it wouldn't have made sense at the time for Felton to play an older Draco when The Cursed Child debuted in 2016.
Felton is currently scheduled to appear in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway through March 22, 2026, after extending his original run as part of the play's cast due to increased demand.