“Harry Potter” actor Paapa Essiedu says he has received race-fuelled death threats over his casting as Professor Snape in the upcoming HBO Max adaptation.
“I’ve been told, ‘Quit or I’ll murder you,’” Essiedu told The Sunday Times of London in a new interview.
“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.”
Essiedu is set to play potions master Snape — one of Potter’s nemeses — in the upcoming streaming adaptation, a role previously played by Alan Rickman. His casting ignited backlash from toxic fans.
“But the abuse fuels me,” he continued in the interview. “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.”
The actor, who has appeared in “Black Mirror” and “I May Destroy You,” admitted he’d never seen the original movies, which starred Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, but had been a fan of J.K. Rowling’s book series as a child. “I was an avid reader as a kid,” he said. “My mum couldn’t afford a babysitter in the holidays, so she would take me to the library. I loved ‘Harry Potter.’ I never saw the films but the books were escapism when other things were less easy for me.”
The new series is set to launch on HBO Max in 2027 with an (almost) entirely new cast. The central trio will be made up of Dominic McLaughlin as Harry, Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley.
Essiedu has signed onto the series for ten years and told The Sunday Times it was a “big commitment.” “I’ll be 45 by the time I finish,” he said, “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.”
Leave a Reply