Paapa Essiedu offered the role of Severus Snape in HBO's new Harry Potter series
By Dan Selcke
HBO is currently working on a TV adaptation of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter book series. According to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO has offered the role of Severus Snape to actor British actor Paapa Essiedu, although it's unclear if it's a done deal as of yet.
Snape is one of the biggest in the Harry Potter series. The embittered, intelligent Potions professor at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, Snape seems to loathe young Harry Potter from the moment he arrives, for reasons that are teased out over the course of the series. But Snape also helps Harry as he grows into his role as the Chosen One destined to stop the dark wizard Voldemort. It's complicated, you'll see.
As for Essiedu, he's an experience actor with parts in TV shows like I May Destroy You and Black Mirror, movies like Murder on the Orient Express, and in Royal Shakespeare Company productions like Hamlet and King Lear, where he played the main roles. There's no doubt he'll have the chops to play Snape. I'm sure someone out there will say it's impossible for a Black man to play Snape because there aren't any Black people in Britain or something, but let's just skip that part, okay?
I'll underline that this is a leak; nothing has been set in stone yet, as HBO reminded people in a statement: “We appreciate that such a high-profile series will draw a lot of rumor and speculation. As we make our way through pre-production, we will only confirm details as we finalize deals.”
Still, we know showrunner Francesca Gardiner and her team have been ramping up the cast process behind the scenes, looking for young actors to play the roles of Harry, Ron and Hermione and eying Oscar winner Mark Rylance to play the role of Dumbledore, the headmaster at Hogwarts.
Original Harry Potter actor Ralph Fiennes endorses Cillian Murphy as Voldemort
We'll be hearing about that casting process for years to come; these are beloved roles and people have a lot of opinions. Lately, actor Ralph Fiennes — who played the dark lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter movie series — weighed in on a popular fan cast for the TV show: Cillian Murphy, who won an Oscar for his role in Oppenheimer. “Cillian is a fantastic actor,” Fiennes said on an episode of the talk show Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. “That’s a wonderful suggestion. I would be all in favor of Cillian. Yeah.”
Cillian Murphy is a fantastic actor, although I'm betting that the older characters will mostly be played by respected but lesser known thespians like Rylance and Essiedu, rather than headline-grabbing performers like Murphy. But if the show is as successful as the movies, some of them could go on to become household names.
We have a while to wait before we find out. There's no official release date for the Harry Potter show as of yet, but expect it sometime in late 2026 or 2027.
dark. Next. Every professor from the Harry Potter books, ranked by how good they were at their jobs. Every professor from the Harry Potter books, ranked by how good they were at their jobs
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h/t Variety