Despite rumours alleging that she refused to appear in the last two Harry Potter installments, her commitment to the final two films was confirmed in March 2007 by Warner Brothers. She said, “I could never let [the role of] Hermione go – she is my hero! I love her too much and love what playing her has meant to me. I am excited and honoured to be finishing what I started and playing her in all seven of the films.” Later, she explained that people underestimated the scope of this decision, as she was aware that filming would dominate her life for the next three to four years; in the end, “the pluses outweighed the minuses.”

On July 19, 2007, Watson announced her involvement in her first non-Harry Potter project, The Tale of Despereaux, an animated film to be released in 2008, in which she will voice the character of Princess Pea. In August 2007, it was announced that she would star in the BBC’s adaptation of Ballet Shoes, playing Pauline Fossil, the eldest of the three Fossil sisters around whom the story revolves – the role required Watson to bleach her hair white-blonde.

Although Radcliffe and Grint have confirmed their commitment to an acting career, Watson has expressed uncertainty as to her future plans. Speaking to Newsweek magazine in 2006, she said, “Daniel and Rupert seem so sure… I love to perform, but there are so many things I love doing… Maybe that sounds ungrateful. I’ve been given such an amazing opportunity, but I’ll just have to go with the flow.” Commenting on Radcliffe’s widely publicised nu*e scenes in the theatre piece Equus in 2007, she not did categorically rule out nu*e scenes herself in future films or stage works, but added that “you will never see me nak*d without a good reason”. Watson affirmed this in a later interview with The Sydney Morning Herald saying, “If I feel that nudity is essential to the story I’ll do it … But I’m not going to get my kit off for something that I don’t really believe in.”