Emma Watson Moves Beyond Hermione

Emma Watson, best known for her decade-long role of Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series, is attached to star in Napoleon and Betsy, a period drama being written and directed by Benjamin Ross.

As much as I hate to see Harry Potter wrap, it’s fun to see where the stars go from there. Daniel Radcliffe has already done several films, and will star in My Boy Jack, airing Sunday, April 20, 9 – 11 p.m. EDT on PBS.

In Napoleon and Betsy, Watson will play Betsy Balcombe, an impetuous, young noblewoman trapped on the isolated British Isle of St. Helena who falls in love with Napoleon, in exile on the island.

More after the jump…

Scarlett Johansson was originally going to play the role, but stepped aside as the part skewed younger. She’s still producing the film, along with Alexandra Milchan, Melanie Sloan and Gilles Arondeau. (And you go, Scarlett! She’s only 23!)

Watson is completing filming on the sixth HP installment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, scheduled to hit theaters on Nov. 21, 2008. Filming of the last chapter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is scheduled to start in early 2009.

Watson hopes to shoot Napoleon and Betsy in the fall. She recently starred in the BBC telefilm Ballet Shoes and lends her voice to the role of Princess Pea in the animated film The Tale of Despereaux, hitting theaters Dec. 19, 2008.

Image: Emma Watson, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2007