Original ‘Harry Potter’ Star Is Reprising His Role in New Production

Tom Felton is making his return to Hogwarts.

The original Harry Potter movie franchise star, 37, will reprise his role as Draco Malfoy in Broadway‘s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child during a 19-week engagement starting Nov. 11.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is set 19 years after the events of the original Harry Potter series and follows the children of Draco, Harry, Ron and Hermione as they attend Hogwarts. The Tony Award-winning play opened in London in 2016 before moving to Broadway two years later.

“It’s very much a pinch-me situation,” Felton told Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin on TODAY Thursday. “I keep thinking I’m dreaming. I let go of that character 16 years ago, and now I get to step back into his shoes, as a father this time, in a new story.”

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“Potter was a massive chunk of my childhood, and now I get to sort of go back whilst also going forward,” the former child star later told Today.com, adding that as much as Cursed Child will be him “reprising an old role,” it’s also “very much treading into new, unfamiliar territory.”

“I know [Draco] quite well as a kid. I don’t know him that well as an adult,” he explained. “So that’s the exciting challenge ahead for me.”

It was a surreal experience for Felton to embrace the character he last played more than a decade ago. “It’s very, very easy to get emotional,” he said. “When they put my blond wig on for the theater production, I just immediately cried. It was just sort of like a blast from the past. … It was something that I never thought I’d see again.”

In a statement following the announcement, Felton 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.”

The statement continued: “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.”