We are all here because we passionately love movies and entertainment, right? We just frequently wish it were just better than a lot of it is these days. Now imagine, for a second, being such an over-excitable little lunatic that your reaction to a casting you didn’t approve of was to start sending death threats? Now, one of the stars of the upcoming HBO Harry Potter adaptation has revealed he has recieved some.
Paapa Essiedu has been cast as Professor Severus Snape, the role made famous by the late Alan Rickman. He’s a Royal Shakespeare Company-trained actor with a body of well-received work. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Essiedu reveals that some people are so unhappy with a black actor taking on the role that threats have been made:
“I’ve been told, ‘Quit or I’ll murder you’… It really matters. The reality is that if I look at Instagram I will see somebody saying, ‘I’m going to come to your house and kill you.’ So while I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be murdered…That could age badly! But, yes, while I hope I’ll be OK, nobody should have to encounter this for doing their job. Many people put their lives on the line in their work. I’m playing a wizard in ‘Harry Potter.’ And I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t affect me emotionally.
But the abuse fuels me, and makes me more passionate about making this character my own, because I think of how I felt as a kid. I would imagine myself at Hogwarts on broomsticks, and the idea that a kid like me can see themselves represented in that world? That’s motivation to not be intimidated by someone saying they’d rather I died instead of doing work I’m going to be really proud of.
I’ll be 45 by the time I finish, and I know my life is going to change in a big way, but I have to just surrender to that. I could have children by the end of this.”
By all means bitch about it online. Refuse to consume the product. But death threats? Maybe this is taking the whimsical story of a boy wizard, perhaps, a little bit too seriously?
Snape’s backstory and motivations were not well served by the constraints of the movies. The television serial format should allow for things to be played out in more detail and provide a lot for an actor to potentially get their teeth into.
The casting of a black actor could make some of those scenes awkward in “current year”, so expect all sorts of editorials in outlets like The Guardian trying to find some kind of social commentary in the stories where none existed before, distracting from the important part of the story. This is behind a lot of the concerns some fans have about the casting, not because they don’t like his skin tone. Nobody doubts Essiedu’s talents as an actor.
Harry Potter is set to launch on HBO Max in 2027.
