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HBO 'Harry Potter' Show Black Severus Snape Casting
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About
HBO 'Harry Potter' Show Black Severus Snape Casting refers to memes and discussions about British actor Paapa Essiedu being cast as Severus Snape in HBO's adaptation of the Harry Potter series. Essiedu was cast as Snape in March 2025, prompting discourse, confusion, and some backlash from Harry Potter fans and internet users who did not agree with the casting decision. Primary concerns internet users expressed with casting a Black actor as Severus Snape was the idea of James Potter and his white friends bullying a Black character, and the character going on to join the book's equivalent of Nazis. Some internet users also highlighted how Snape being Black could complicate Harry Potter's immediate, instinctual distrust of him. Other internet users simply expressed their displeasure of a canonically white character being race-swapped.
Origin
HBO's upcoming Harry Potter television series was first announced in 2023, and is slated for a 2026 premiere. The series is helmed by showrunner Francesca Gardiner and director Mark Mylod, with Rowling serving as executive producer. On March 7th, 2025, Deadline[1] reported that HBO had announced the casting of Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, marking a significant departure from the original films.
Redditor /u/afanoftoomanythings posted about showmakers eyeing Essiedu for the role to the subreddit[2] /r/FauxMoi on December 4th, 2024. X[3] account @DiscussingFilm posted about the development on March 7th, 2025, gathering over 45,000 likes in a month.
Spread
On March 7th, X[4] user @300mirrors tweeted a Photoshopped image of Hollywood actor Adam Driver as Severus Snape, writing, "Y'all had ONE job.," and gathering over 220,000 likes in a month.
On March 7th, X[5] user @_NoSoyDany tweeted, "James Potter bullying the only black student at hogwarts in the 70’s yeah sounds like a good idea," gathering over 290,000 likes in a month.
On March 7th, X user[7] @AdrianneCurry wrote, "Hook nosed, pale faced, sallow Snape is now a young, handsome black guy. What. The actual F%ck." The post gathered over 12,000 likes in a month.
On April 14th, X[6] user @JonnyRoot_ tweeted, "HBO just officially killed their show in the womb… Snape is white in the books, so he should be white in the show. This is just DEI nonsense. Now imagine what’ll look like when white James Potter bullies black Severus Snape… Great way to push a racism, victim agenda 🙄"
Various Examples
Search Interest
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External References
[1] Deadline – HBO Harry Potter Casting
[2] Reddit – /r/Fauxmoi
[3] Twitter / X – DiscussingFilm
[4] Twitter / X – 300mirrors
[5] Twitter / X – _NoSoyDany
[6] Twitter / X – JonnyRoot_
[7] Twitter / X – AdrianneCurry
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