With The Harry Potter franchise approaching a reboot, the upcoming HBO show will witness a brand new cast to portray the iconic characters. But it is almost impossible for fans to witness anyone filling the shoes of stars, including Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe, who brought the characters in the original saga to life. However, it seems that before Watson was eventually selected for the role of Hermione Granger, there was another actress who almost surpassed her.

Looking back at her initial struggles, Watson once expressed how she relentlessly worked herself to achieve the role of Hermione, as she wasn’t the initial choice for the role.

Emma as Hermione Granger

A slightly older actress than Emma Watson almost surpassed her for the role of Hermione Granger

While speaking with HuffPost, the casting director of Harry Potter, Janet Hirshenson revealed that they initially considered another actress other than Emma Watson for the role of Hermione. Hirshenson recalled that the actress, who ended up in the final two alongside Watson for the role was Hatty Jones, who already established her name before auditioning for the movie through 1998’s Madeline. Hirshenson explained the situation by stating,

“There was another little girl that we tested who had just done I think ‘Madeline. She had done a big movie, and she was quite Hermione-ish, so I think Emma saw her at the auditions and went, ‘Oh, well, I got no chance. There’s her.’”

Even though Emma Watson might not have been experienced as Jones, according to Hirshenson, Watson didn’t fail to deliver on the occasions and Jones stood no chance when Watson took the stage. The Noah actress later opened up about the struggles she endured in order to perfect her audition for the role of Hermione Granger and how much it meant to her.

Hatty Jones in Madeline(1998)

Emma Watson was adamant about getting the role of Hermione Granger

In order to secure the iconic role, Emma Watson spent a substantial amount of time perfecting the audition clip to impress the casting directors. Watson, who firmly believes that one should work hard to earn the things that one wants, opened up about her anxiety before the audition while speaking with GQ and expressed how adamant she was about the role. The actress explained her process for capturing the perfect audition clip by stating,

 “I worked hard to get Hermione, and my mum has a video I did for the first audition and she has me doing the same takeover and over, like 27 times from nine in the morning until five in the afternoon and I was just relentless. I wasn’t sure I wanted to act, but I was sure I wanted this part.”

Emma Watson

As a result, the Noah actress not only secured the role but also cemented herself as one of the fan favorites from the original saga and it is now impossible to imagine anyone in the role of Hermione except her.