{"id":900249,"date":"2026-10-30T19:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T19:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/900249\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T19:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T19:44:10","slug":"paapa-essiedu-addresses-harry-potter-black-snape-casting-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/900249\/","title":{"rendered":"Paapa Essiedu Addresses ‘Harry Potter’ Black Snape Casting Backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWhen HBO<\/a> released the first-look image<\/a> of Paapa Essiedu<\/a> as Severus Snape in the upcoming \u201cHarry Potter<\/a>\u201d series, it became immediately clear that the show was going for something different. Unlike Alan Rickman\u2019s Snape, Essiedu sports shoulder-length dreadlocks and a more gothic look, swapping the character\u2019s signature buttoned-up robes for a zip-up leather jacket and a flowing, oversized black cloak.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the aesthetic is important,\u201d Essiedu told Variety Thursday night at the TIME100 Next Gala, grinning at the suggestion that his Snape was the more stylish of the two adaptations. \u201cI don\u2019t know if style is necessarily at the forefront of my mind when generating the character, but I think the way he looks tells so much about who he is \u2014 and who he wants people to think he is. It\u2019s all incredibly well thought through and collaborated with the incredible costume department.\u201d<\/p>\n

Essiedu previously opened up to The Sunday Times of London about the racially motivated death threats<\/a> he\u2019s received over his casting as Snape, which he said have \u201cfueled\u201d him to make the character his own. As the series\u2019 Christmas premiere<\/a> approaches, the actor praised his \u201cHarry Potter\u201d colleagues for supporting him in the wake of the toxic online backlash.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole team has been so supportive of me,\u201d Essiedu said. \u201cObviously, my priority is the work. I wouldn\u2019t take this job on [otherwise], but I walk into it with open eyes. I understand the broad spectrum of what the reaction to what we\u2019re doing means, and I take that mantle on with an open and full heart. I\u2019ve also been blown away by a lot of the support and well-wishes and excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEssiedu was honored as one of Time\u2019s 100 rising stars defining the next generation of leadership in business, entertainment, sports, politics, and more in New York City. The actor made a name for himself in the U.K. after becoming the first Black actor to play Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2016, winning the Ian Charleson Award, and subsequently earning two BAFTA nominations for his performances in \u201cI May Destroy You\u201d and \u201cThe Lazarus Project.\u201d The \u201cHarry Potter\u201d TV series, which Warner Bros. execs are touting<\/a> as the \u201cstreaming event of the decade,\u201d could be the project that catapults the award-winning actor to international stardom.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m really proud of what I\u2019ve seen so far,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are so many people who worked so hard on this project \u2014 and who it means so much to. It\u2019s been a long time coming. It\u2019s been a long time that people have been saying a lot of things, and now\u2019s the time for people to engage with what we made.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHarry Potter\u201d Season 1, based on \u201cHarry Potter and the Philosopher\u2019s Stone,\u201d will debut on HBO Max Dec. 25.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When HBO released the first-look image of Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape in the upcoming \u201cHarry Potter\u201d series,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,9346,1035,206,240959],"class_list":["post-900249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-harry-potter","tag-hbo","tag-movies","tag-paapa-essiedu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}