Whereas it must be trigger for celebration when actors get cool roles, for Black British actor Papaa Essiedu and the current information about his iconic new Harry Potter casting, it’s sadly inflicting quite a lot of controversy. And also you most likely gained’t be shocked once we let you know why.
As teased by Deadline over the weekend, Essiedu is reportedly finalizing the small print to tackle the character of Professor Severus Snape within the upcoming Harry Potter collection, slated to premiere on HBO in 2026. And although that appears nice and dandy on the service, followers of the franchise have been in a critical tizzy over the announcement for a myriad of causes—chief amongst them: his race.
Within the books and movies, Snape, a professor on the Hogwarts Faculty of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was a 30-something, unattractive professor who had “greasy black hair, chilly black eyes, sallow pores and skin, a big, hooked nostril, yellow and uneven tooth” and extra.
Primarily based off optics alone, it’s arduous to think about how Hollywood may flip somebody as enticing as Essiedu into the morbidly described character when he’s aesthetically thus far eliminated. Snape was additionally an notorious bully and anti-hero who held ideas and beliefs and carried out behaviors equal to that of a Wizard KKK member, which additional makes this casting such a complicated selection.
With that information, it’s arduous for some followers of the franchise to think about how sure storylines and motivations will play out now that the race of this character has been modified they usually took to social media to specific their displeasure.
“Making Snape a black man is without doubt one of the worst issues ever. One of many many fictional characters that ought to’ve stayed white,” wrote one person.
“The wizard warriors are about to dig up slurs we haven’t heard for the reason that 1800s. a cataclysmic misstep from his crew. there’s nothing good that might ever come from having a black actor play an notorious bully like snape, not on this digital fandom local weather,” stated one other.
Famous one different person, “It’s a NO for me as black lady who grew up loving HP this isn’t the casting. Snape was a dying eater. Take into consideration him being a Black Dying consuming give it some thought.”
“That is so exceptionally silly. Please cease with the race swapping of all the pieces for the sake of range. Within the case of Snape, making him black actually adjustments the subtext of his complete story!,” stated one other.
Nevertheless, there have been some who’re wanting ahead to how Essiedu breathes life into this new iteration of Snape and hoped that HBO could be pulling out all of the stops to maintain the younger actor from enduring incessant racism from the die-hard fanbase.
“Im like in agony over this Snape casting, as a result of now a proficient black actor has been handed a challenge nobody needs and will likely be on the brunt of racist harassment all for a present that will likely be forgotten and cancelled after 2 seasons in the very best case state of affairs,” wrote one person on X/Twitter.
Added one other, “Hope the community and studios are ready to guard that Black actor taking part in Snape…”