A black Hermione already existed in fans' imaginations

When Mikki Kendall saw the newsthat Hermione Granger had been cast as a black woman in the upcoming playHarry Potter and the Cursed Child, she wasn't surprised.

BeforeEmma Watson took on the role in the film adaptations of J.K. Rowling's books series, the Chicago writerhad imaginedthe beloved magic-wielding bookworm as biracial. After all, she's described as having big, bushyhair, brown eyesand, at one point, "very brown" skin.

Not to mention, as awitch of non-magical lineage, Hermioneiscruelly derided as a"mudblood"by the morebigoted of her"pureblood" schoolmates.Her description seemed the perfect allegory for being a child ofmixed race.

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"It was weird when the movies were cast and it was a white girl," Kendall said. "Not like it couldn't be, but it just seemed that given all the focus in the early books on the texture of her hair and all of thatmudbloodthing, that it was going to beRowling'snod to racial dynamics.

"No one I know thought ofHermioneimmediately as being necessarily white."

Now, in thislatest addition totheHarry Potter universe,she won't be.

Swaziland-born actressNomaDumezwenitakes on the iconic role inHarry Potter and the Cursed Child a new London, U.K.,play aboutthe book's charactersin their adult years. She has the fullblessing ofRowling, who tweeted that she "loves black Hermione."

While the news may come as a shock for somewho grew up watching Watson on screen, for many Harry Potterfans, the casting puts an official stamp on howthey've always imagined Hermione.

'It means everything'

"I never thought this would actually happen, especially now.I thought I might see it when I was old and looking back at how bad the representation was at the turn of the century," New York writer and Harry Potter fanAlannaBennett told CBC News. "It's honestly one of the best things I've ever seen happen. It means everything."

As a biracial woman, Bennett said she's alwaysidentified with Hermione and her complex identity in the wizarding world.

"The blood allegory in the books was one of the biggest things I remember using to understand my own ethnicity, especially through Harry andHermione'sexperience with it. There was a duality in both of them that I really clung to as a biracial girl, and it was a language that was really useful for me," she said.

Still, she always felt distanced from the character, who she thought of as white until she discovered the myriad of online communities onsites like Tumblr and DeviantArt dedicated to fan-madeart depictingHermione as a woman of colour, and often asblack.

It's called "racebending"and it's one of themany tools that fans of sci-fi andfantasy use toreimaginetheir favourite fictionalworlds tobetter reflect their own diversity.

"I think that what we're seeing a lot with fandom and what's always been at the very heart of what fandom is is the understanding that we don't have to settle," saysBennett, who wrote about the phenomenon on Buzzfeed.

"Hollywood may be lagging behind what we know we deserve to be able to see in our stories, but we don't have to settle for that. We can imagine characters as their best selves."

Reimagining characters diversely

Nowadays, it's not just the fans who arereimagningtheir favourite characters. The entertainment industry is catching up.

Black actorMichael B. JordanplayedTheHuman Torch in the latestFantastic Four movie.IdrisElba has long been rumoured as the next James Bond. Lucy Liu plays Sherlock Holmes's Dr. Watson on CBS's Elementary.

Nowhere is this phenomenon more pronounced than in the comic book world. Women have taken on the mantles of bothThor and Captain Marvel.Muslim teen Kamala Khan is the newMs. Marvel. Miles Morales, a teenager of black and Hispanic descent,has replaced Peter Parker asSpider-Man.The newCaptain America isblack.

Christina Robins,a writer and activist living in Cambridge, Ont., says it's powerful for children to see themselves reflected in popular culture.

"Of course, every race deserves to be represented and every kid needs to see themselves as important enough to represent," she said. "Hollywood erases so much culture."

Despite backlash, diversity sells

But not everyone has welcomed the news of a black Hermione. Many fans havetaken to social media and thecomments sections of news stories to deride the decision.

"Black Hermione? Are you kidding? Makes no sense," one person tweeted."I do not approve. Ruins all my mental images of the trio," wrote another.

There was a similar uproar whenElba was cast as the Norse gatekeeperHeimdall in 2011'sThor. There was even outcry when a black girl was cast as the characterRue in The Hunger Games film adaptation despite the fact that she's described as black in the book.

There were even calls to boycott Star Wars: The Force Awakens for casting black actor John Boyega as Stormtrooper-turned-heroFinn.

"It's funny because these are all things where we can believe in dragons and giants and fairies and magic, but we can't believe in black people or Latinas or Middle Eastern people," Kendall said.

Still, Thor earned$449.3million at the box office andThe Force Awakenscrushed records on its opening weekend.

"You can't say that diversity is unnecessary when you see this money going somewhere else," says Kendall. "I'd like to believe it's also people being better humans, but I think at itsbase in any business model, cash is king. I mean, female Thor is doing quite well. Sure, the fanboys are mad about it, but oh well."