HBO dropped the trailer of 'Harry Potter', and the release date was announced, leaving people divided. While the massive fandom has gone into a collective meltdown, some are unhappy with the cast!
The Potterheads are struck to the core since HBO released the trailer of the Harry Potter TV series. The project was announced last year in the spring, and a year later, it was revealed that the release of the first season would be on Christmas 2026. Harry Potter fans couldn't contain their emotions with the teaser coming out. The minute-to-minute details took people back in the past and cast a deja vu kind of spell.
While some fans remained excited, some couldn't actually replace the OGs with the new cast, and with the mixed feelings amongst the Potterheads, a new debate has begun. To mention, there has been a heated discussion going on with Paapa Essiedu playing the role of 'Professor Severus Snape' in the HBO series. 'Snape' is one of the lead roles in Harry Potter, who works as a complex double agent, Potions Master, Head of Slytherin, and later the Headmaster at Hogwarts.
The role of 'Snape' in the iconic film series was played by Alan Rickman, and he owned it, being called the OG in every manner possible. Given that now Paapa Essiedu is taking the place of 'Snape', some viewers were left furious. The reason for the same is seemingly multifold. Viewers who remained stuck to the idea that no reboot could ever take the place of the OG cast, are a bit snapped out with Paapa playing 'Snape's role, just like Dominic playing 'Harry's role.
Apart from that, the most talked about reason has been the racial difference. In J.K. Rowling's novel, 'Snape' is described as a pale-skinned, thin, greasy-haired white man with sharp eyes and the ability to be a double agent.
Well, with Paapa playing the role, viewers started throwing racist abuse at the actor, and that didn't stop there. He also got death threats, which led the team to tighten its security. Speaking to Variety, Network boss Casey Bloys revealed that they had seen the backlash coming beforehand and put the protection in place early. As per Bloys, with a show that has passionate fanbase for years, it's only possible that it can even get scary. Sharing that they had tightened the security beforehand, Bloys said:
"With all actors on any kind of big IP shows — and this is obviously one of those where you’ve got, you know, passionate fans, people with a lot of opinions — it can get scary in places. So 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’ve 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.”
Since HBO announced the project, it has been receiving mixed reactions, and with the teaser now being dropped, the discussion has been intensified. Well, when Paapa was announced as a part of the cast, he started getting threats, as shared by him. He has earlier talked about it in an interview with The Times, wherein he stated that people had been threatening him and didn't even stop giving him death threats as well, which actually affected him emotionally, but he never felt that he should go forward to report such things, as he doesn't believe in getting a 17-year-old kid arrested. He said:
"While I hope I’ll be okay, 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. I don’t think some 17-year-old boy being put in jail for two weeks for threatening to murder me would actually make me feel any better."
What do you think about Paapa getting backlash?
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