Paapa Essiedu, who will play Professor Snape in the upcoming HBO Max film Harry Potter series, revealed that he had received race-related death threats since his casting was announced, including messages telling him to quit the role or be murdered.
“I was told, ‘Stop or I’ll kill you,'” the actor said Sunday time from London.
“The reality is, if I look at Instagram, I see someone saying, ‘I’m going to come to your house and kill you.’ So while I’m pretty sure I won’t be murdered…no one should have to go through that to do their job. Many people risk their lives in the course of their work. I play a wizard in Harry Potter. And I’d be lying if I said it didn’t affect me emotionally.”
Essiedu, known for his roles in Black mirror And I can destroy youis set to face one of the wizarding world’s most iconic characters, the brooding Potions Master previously played by the late Alan Rickman in the original film series.
His casting sparked backlash from a vocal portion of the fanbase, but Essiedu made it clear that it only strengthened his resolve.
“The abuse fuels me,” he said.
“And that excites me even more about making this character my own, because I think about how I felt as a kid. I would imagine myself at Hogwarts on broomsticks, and the idea of a kid like me being able to see themselves represented in that world? It’s motivation to not be intimidated by someone saying they’d rather I die than do work that I’m going to be really proud of.”
Its connection with the Harry Potter The universe is personal, rooted in childhood.
Although he never saw the original films starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, he grew up devoted to JK Rowling’s books.
“My mother couldn’t afford a babysitter during the holidays, so she would take me to the library,” he recalls. “I loved it Harry Potter. I never saw the films but the books were an escape while other things were less easy for me.”
Essiedu signed for ten years, a commitment he described to Sunday time as significant whatever the measure.
“I’ll be 45 when I’m done,” he said, “and I know my life is going to change in a big way, but I just have to get there. I might have kids by the end of it.”
The new series, scheduled to launch on HBO Max in 2027, features an almost entirely new cast.
Dominic McLaughlin will play Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton will play Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout will play Ron Weasley.
