The British actor, cast as the famously complex potions master in HBO's upcoming Harry Potter series, spoke publicly for the first time about the scale of racist abuse he has received since his casting was announced. In an interview with The Times of London published Saturday, Essiedu revealed that strangers have written to him on Instagram saying they will come to his house and murder him. One message told him directly: quit the project, or face violence.
Essiedu, 35, is best known to American audiences through the acclaimed BBC drama I May Destroy You. When HBO announced his casting as Snape in April 2025, the backlash was swift. Snape was portrayed across all eight films by the late Alan Rickman, whose arrogant demeanor and deep, measured voice became inseparable from the character for millions of fans. Some critics framed their objections in terms of book accuracy. Others were far more direct about their actual reason, Essiedu is Black, and Snape in the novels is described as pale.
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What does help, he said, is remembering why the role matters to him. As a child, his mother brought him to the public library during school holidays because childcare wasn't affordable. He discovered J.K. Rowling's novels there. He never saw the films. He fell in love with the books.
He has signed on for ten years of work. By the time the series wraps its adaptation of all seven novels, Essiedu will be 45. The commitment is significant by any measure. But he said the abuse has made him more resolved, not less. He wants to make Snape genuinely his own, separate from Rickman's legacy while honoring the character's depth.
The HBO Harry Potter series is expected to debut in 2027. John Lithgow will play Dumbledore, Nick Frost takes on Hagrid, and Janet McTeer is cast as Professor McGonagall. Essiedu's co-star John Lithgow said separately that he briefly considered stepping away from the project over the controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling, suggesting that even the show's most established names have wrestled with the pressures surrounding this production.
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