Paapa Essiedu has said that following his casting as Professor Snape, he received racist messages<\/a> telling him: \u201cQuit or I\u2019ll murder you\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m going to come to your house and kill you.\u201d<\/p>\n When the 35-year-old actor\u2019s role in the production was announced last April, some online commenters claimed that he shouldn\u2019t have been cast as the fictional potions professor because he was written as white.<\/p>\n Asked by Variety<\/a> whether he anticipated that kind of reaction, Bloys responded: \u201cWith all actors on any kind of big IP shows \u2014 and this is obviously one of those where you\u2019ve got, you know, passionate fans, people with a lot of opinions \u2014 it can get scary in places.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cSo for any show like that, we anticipated it and tried to have training, you know, best practices in terms of social media and how to handle it. And obviously, we\u2019ve got a serious security team. So unfortunately, it was something that we thought might happen and we just try to be as careful as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n Bloys also stated that the show has not yet cast its Voldemort, despite mounting online speculation linking Tilda Swinton with the role. Cillian Murphy definitively denied claims he would play the villain.<\/a><\/p>\n Essiedu has said that while he\u2019s \u201cpretty sure\u201d he\u2019s not going to be murdered despite the online threats \u2014 a comment he caveated could \u201cage badly\u201d \u2014 he maintained that \u201cnobody should have to encounter this for doing their job\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cMany people put their lives on the line in their work. I\u2019m playing a wizard in Harry Potter. And I\u2019d be lying if I said it doesn\u2019t affect me emotionally,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Shortly after Essiedu\u2019s casting was announced, the actor was among the hundreds of TV and film professionals who signed a letter calling for industry action on trans rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the last six years, JK Rowling has repeatedly come under fire<\/a> for various comments about gender, with many, including stars of the Potter film adaptations, accusing her of transphobia.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/dominic-mclaughlin-6-cAopy.jpeg\")
The first image from HBO\u2019s upcoming Harry Potter television series was recently revealed (HBO)<\/p>\n