Three years after it was first announced that a Harry Potter TV series was in the works, it’ll finally make its way to the streaming schedule this Christmas. With that, a new cast is entering the Wizarding World, and following in the footsteps of Emma Watson as Hermione Granger is Arabella Stanton. The show's casting director put a lot of thought into tapping Stanton for the role, and there was even the cute element from her audition that proved to be very important for her being cast. (And it makes so much sense.)
Back when Watson first auditioned for HP, she proved on set she was born to play Hermione. That was because she memorized everyone’s lines and started mouthing them. In the case of Stanton for the TV adaptation, casting director Lucy Bevan spoke on the HBO Max special, Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic, about what was “crucial” for HBO’s perfect Hermione. See what Bevan said:
So, right off the bat, I love hearing Arabella Stanton talk. Just like the Hermione actress who came before her, she’s got a very refined way of speaking. Even when the child star said one of her character’s iconic “Leviosa” lines, it sounded flawless. No wonder Audible had Stanton record for Harry Potter’s audiobook as the Muggle-born student.
Not only is Hermione Granger a real bookworm in the J.K. Rowling series, but she’s also an 11-year-old student with her childlike quirks. So I love the fact that Bevan says it was Stanton's snort during her audition that essentially helped land her the role:
So this is Arabella’s audition. So she did the poem Invictus. So we got her in to do a scene where she’s talking to her parents about Harry and Ron, and she sort of got the giggles and did a little snort. And that’s the take we used to show [the producers] that she’s playful. So Arabella’s snort was quite crucial in the casting process.
That’s the cutest thing! I’m glad the casting team chose to keep those giggles in the audition, as even that small snort can do a lot for Stanton's performance. While Hermione is supposed to be the logical one of the trio, it’s good they’re allowing her to be playful as well, like many of the other Hogwarts students.
On the surface, these may seem like small details, but they'll help the HBO present a more accurate depiction of the books. As seen in the new Harry Potter trailer scenes, Hermione can be occasionally awkward and anxious. Considering we didn’t get to see so much of that side in the movies, the team behind the TV series clearly wants to show us a side of the brainy witch that exists in the book series.
Relatively speaking, we've still only seen just a snippet of Arabella Stanton's take on Hermione. Still, I'm confident that she'll grow into the role perfectly, just like Emma Watson. If everything goes accordingly, that "crucial" snort will go down as a key piece of behind-the-scenes Potter lore.
Hold out your wands for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which premieres on HBO on Christmas Day and will also be available to stream with an HBO Max subscription that same day. In the meantime, use the service to check out the OG films to see Emma Watson's performance.
