- Has been some controversy over Paapa Essiedu casting as Snape
- JK Rowling has expressed her opinion on X
- Essiedu has expressed support for the transgender community
Harry Potter author JK Rowling has had her say on the casting of Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape in the upcoming HBO adaptation.
The casting of Essiedu in the role – iconically played by the late Alan Rickman in the eight Harry Potter films – has caused some controversy since it was announced earlier this year.
Part of the controversy has stemmed from Essiedu expressing his solidarity with the transgender, non-binary and intersex communities. Recently this has included being one of 400 celebrities – including Nicola Coughlan (Bridgerton) and Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us) to sign an open letter following a ruling in April by supreme court judges in the UK that ruled the terms ‘woman’ and ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.
This means a gender recognition certificate does not change a person’s legal sex for the purposes of the Equality Act.
Contrasting views
People have pointed out that Essiedu’s stance is in contrast to that of Rowling, who has been outspoken in her views on the transgender community for some years, mostly through posts on X (which everyone still calls Twitter). She notably celebrated the supreme court ruling.
Some have wondered whether their opposing views would mean that Rowling may seek to have Essiedu removed from the cast of the show. Rowling was said to be very involved with the selection of showrunner Francesca Gardiner and director Mark Mylod for the new series.
But now Rowling has had her say. In a post on X (inevitably), via Variety, the author said: “I don’t have the power to sack an actor from the series and I wouldn’t exercise it if I did. I don’t believe in taking away people’s jobs or livelihoods because they hold legally protected beliefs that differ from mine.”
High profile Harry Potter castings
The new Harry Potter series is starting to take shape. Essiedu was one of several attention-grabbing castings announced earlier this year. Other actors signed up to the show, which is set to last for seven seasons – one for each of the original books – include John Lithgow as Hogwarts’ head Albus Dumbledore, Nick Frost as half-giant groundskeeper Rubeus Hagrid, Janet McTeer as Gryffindor house head Minerva McGonagall and Paul Whitehouse as caretaker Argus Filch.
