Paapa Essiedu “Near Deal” to Play Severus Snape in HBO Max Harry Potter Series
jesslind | Mar 7, 2025 |
HBO is closing deals with cast members to play the three iconic professors in the upcoming Harry Potter series, and while the last casting news of John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, confirmed by the actor himself in a recent exclusive interview with ScreenRant, was welcome (despite the actor being American), it now appears they are nearing confirmation of one who is not so welcome. These past months have brought many casting rumors and much speculation after it was announced that HBO Max would be rebooting and adapting the Harry Potter books for television, with one rumor being that Emmy nominee Paapa Essiedu (The Lazarus Project, Black Doves) was in talks to play Professor Severus Snape. English actress Janet McTeer (The Exception, Me Before You) is also in negations to portray Professor and Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall, which, out of the two mentioned here, is obviously the better choice in terms of keeping close to the characters’ appearances.
In a Deadline article today, the wording makes one believe it could still be “hot air” regarding Snape’s casting; however, it’s safe to assume our fears have been realized, despite the constant reassurance of “a faithful adaption.” It’s honestly foolish that this particular actor was not considered for the character of Kingsley Shaklebolt, beloved by many fans even as a secondary character in the novels, for it would’ve been a fantastic pick. But this is current-day entertainment; therefore, they must and will change things to keep in line with the DEI checklist when it comes to main characters in film or television shows.
HBO declined to comment on this current news, stating: “We appreciate that such a high-profile series will draw a lot of rumor and speculation… As we make our way through pre-production, we will only confirm details as we finalize deals.”
After the past few years, it is not difficult to have zero faith in Hollywood adapting something correctly, even if they have the source material and, in this case, the author as executive producer. Fans will recall the atrocity that is The Cursed Child, a play written by Jack Thorne and John Tiffany in which they cast Noma Dumezweni as Hermione Granger. The play itself destroyed much of the canon from the novels and was overall a gross, fan-fiction mess given the green light by J.K. Rowling herself, who famously applauded the race swap of her own character to appease the SJW crowd at the time. So now, out goes the sallow-skinned, lank, greasy-haired, batlike Severus Snape we have all known for over twenty years, and in comes the entire opposite of his true appearance, described several times throughout the novels.
It is highly disappointing that Jo Rowling’s Cormoran Strike novels, which are currently being adapted, are quite faithful to the text, yet her iconic Harry Potter novels that brought her the fame she now enjoys are having their lore ripped to shreds, and the characters changed so drastically that anyone who did not know the series would think it was an entirely different story. This does not remove criticism from the films as well; honestly, although Alan Rickman was a fantastic actor in all his roles, the Snape on screen was far less complex than the Snape in the books, who was downright evil and conniving to Harry due to his long-held grudge against James Potter. Oh, yes, speaking of Harry’s father, now that Snape has been changed to a black man, it is safe to say that James Potter will not only be a bully but a racist bigot. The nickname “Snivellus” bestowed upon Snape by the Marauders will be a racist slur now, too, while they’re at it; mark my words.
The Harry Potter TV series will be filmed at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, where the films were shot, and is set to debut on HBO in late 2026 or early 2027. Some 32,000 kids sent audition tapes for the lead roles of the Golden Trio (Harry, Ron, and Hermione), with final casting choices yet to be revealed. Quite honestly, as a fan, I possess even less confidence than I did previously that this reboot will be the one we (the fans) have been wanting since the end of the films that left out many important details and key characters (*cough, cough* Winky) to the plot.
So, to all the other Harry Potter fans out there who share in my ire for this news, what are your thoughts? Please express them below in the comments.
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Comments (1)
There is a ploy called “social turbulence” that the engineers kind of run on the public. They get off on making people uncomfortable. The thing is, every time you cut off one franchise, you get stronger and it gets easier to not watch the next thing.
After cutting off sports, it’s almost effortless to say no to Hollywood. And I’m one of the few that still go from time to time, but I almost always regret going to the theater. In general, entertainment is no longer very good from the writing to the casting, it’s just several deviations lower every decade.
Still hoping that the public gets overtly confrontational and mocking to the famous. They should be ashamed of themselves.