My own take on this is that Hermione was written white, originally cast white based on Rowling’s advice to the casting director. The casting of a black actress in the The Cursed Child may either be down to open mindedness or may be put down to Rowling’s obsession of going back and changing facts retrospectively (Dumbeldore’s sexuality, Harry’s relationship with Hermione, etc.). Also, there has been a trend of late to inject more diversity into existing franchises by changing a characters sex or race. I’m all for more diversity in cinema, TV and literature but I for one would prefer that it is done more genuinely rather than just to placate white liberals.
For the original article click on the link below:
Book Riot: Was Hermione Black? Overcoming White Bias in Literature.
https://bookriot.com/2019/09/18/white-bias-in-literature/
100% agree with your analysis, here.
Thank you, DebE. How goes the writing?
*Very* slowly, these days. Too much real life going on. Wish it would slow down a bit.