Hermione Granger’s Got Her Own New (Web)Series

Screen capture from Hermione Granger and the Quarter Life Crisis

A couple weeks ago, I was scrolling through Facebook, and I caught three captivating words followed by another three captivating words: Black Girl Nerds, New Series Alert. BGN is an awesome site and if they’re sharing something, I trust them to not lead me wrong. But it was the words that followed that stopped me in my tracks.

Hermione Granger and the Quarter Life Crisis.

Hermione Granger. Quarter Life Crisis.

Grabby hands.

The article itself is a wonderful introduction by the creator, Eliyannah Amirah Yisrael. She talks about her perspective, having grown up with Hermione Granger in print and on film. I particularly loved how she didn’t really consider that the story wasn’t about Hermione until the seventh book and how certain expectations of what Hermione has and would become would inspire her own point of view as this show’s creator.

And then, there was the trailer:

There was no question. I was Here For It.

When the first episode went live on the 16th, I did something I’d never done before: I watched it. On Youtube. You see, I’ve never watched a webseries before; not Lizzie Bennet Diaries, not Issa Rae. I have this thing about watching things on my computer. But now, I have this magical thing: a Smart TV. It allows me to get over myself and actually watch the thing I want to.

And am I glad I did.

The episode is just thirteen minutes, but there’s enough there to make you want to know more. It starts with a surprise: Parvati Patil is making out with a rando and with a whoosh, Hermione shows up out of nowhere. (When Parvati remarked that if anyone could apparate from London to LA, it was Hermione, I knew I was in the right place.) In the space of another ten minutes, we discover more about why Hermione has shown up in LA a sobbing mess, and who she’s going to be hanging out with in her adventures. It’s awkward and funny and obviously the work of a genuine fan of the Potterverse. (Also, keep watching after the credits and get to know a little bit about the creators and what you can do to help keep the series going!)

While Black!Hermione has been around for decades (and holy moly we’re at the point where Harry Potter has been around for decades), the casting of Noma Dumezweni in the London cast of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child brought her to the forefront of fanart. In essentials, she was the same as ever, but now there was this connection that so many of us had to her before, bolstered by the fact that she was being represented as someone who looked like us. With Hermione being black a part of a semi-canonical present, it is not a surprise to see similar casting in a webseries featuring a younger, stronger Hermione with different goals and a bigger future than marrying her high school sweetheart and working a desk job at the Ministry of Magic. Epilogue. What epilogue? Fans know what I’m talking about.

Going forward, I look forward to finding out the answers to the questions I’ve been left with: What does Hermione really want out of life? Will Ron follow her to LA? Who is this cousin we haven’t met yet? Will we see more of that handsome Tae Joon? And what the hell is Draco Malfoy doing in LA?

Regardless of the answers, I hope this series does well. Not just because it’s fun and interesting, but because we need more awesome fanwork with black creators and diverse casts.

Do you want more like I wanted more? Check out the website, and then enjoy!

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Jessica Pryde

Jessica Pryde

Copyeditor Jess is a book hoarder and equal opportunity geek. She loves to get lost in stories of all kinds. See what she's lost in: @jessisreading

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