HBO Confirms It Will Race Swap Severus Snape With Paapa Essiedu In Harry Potter TV Series
HBO announced six cast members for its upcoming Harry Potter TV series and confirmed that it will race swap Severus Snape with Paapa Essiedu.
In a press release HBO stated, that John Lithgow will play Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer will play Minvera McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu will play Severus Snape, and Nick Frost will play Rubeus Hagrid.
Next, it shared that Luke Thallon will play Quirinus Quirrel and Paul Whitehouse will play Argus Filch.
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Showrunner Francesca Gardiner and director Mark Mylod said in a joint statement, “We are happy to announce the casting of John Lithgow, Janet McTeer, Paapa Essiedu, Nick Frost, Luke Thallon and Paul Whitehouse to play Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Hagrid, Quirrell and Filch.”
The duo added, “We’re delighted to have such extraordinary talent onboard, and we can’t wait to see them bring these beloved characters to new life.”
Despite race swapping Severus Snape with Paapa Essiedu, the press release had the gall to describe the series as “faithful adaptation.”
It stated, “The series will be a faithful adaptation of the beloved Harry Potter book series by author and executive producer J.K. Rowling and will feature an exciting and talented cast to lead a new generation of fandom, full of the fantastic detail and much-loved characters Harry Potter fans have adored for over 25 years.”
This is clearly an outright lie now.
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J.K. Rowling made it abundantly clear what Snape looked like. As seen in the 10th Anniversary Collector’s Edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone she shared her own art work of the character.
She also wrote, “Snape as I always saw him. This was scribbled back in 1992 or 3. Although I have spent years denying that Snape is a vampire (one of the more outlandish and persistent fan theories), I must say he does look a little like Count Dracula-ish in that cloak.”
On top of that, Warner Bros. released merchandise and artwork of Snape before Alan Rickman had been cast as the character. He was depicted as white.
Rowling is no stranger to race swapping her characters. She previously approved and defended of a race swap of Hermione Granger for the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stage play.
She told The Guardian at the time, “With my experience of social media, I thought that idiots were going to idiot. But what can you say? That’s the way the world is. Noma was chosen because she was the best actress for the job. When John told me he’d cast her, I said, ‘Oh, that’s fabulous’ because I’d seen her in a workshop and she was fabulous.”
Furthermore, it is possible that Snape will not be the only character race swapped. A casting call for Hermione, Harry, and Ron Weasley detailed that show was “committed to inclusive, diverse casting.”
What do you make of this race swap of Severus Snape?
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This is a reminder that Rowling is a woke clown.
I very much doubt it will be faithful adaption of Harry Potter. I can almost assure you that it'll go left in the first episode.