The ‘Harry Potter’ series has some great casting if they could only rid the series of J.K. Rowling
Casting is underway for the new Harry Potter series that Warner Bros. is moving forward with. If only J.K. Rowling’s name was not continually attached to the project.
News broke that the series had found their Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Rubeus Hagrid, and Severus Snape. John Lithgow, an American man, is taking on Dumbledore. I think that’s kind of funny given all the iconic roles the British have taken from American actors but I digress. The rest of the cast includes Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, Nick Frost as Hagrid, and Paapa Essiedu as Snape.
There had been rumors about Lithgow, Frost, and Essiedu’s casting but McTeer was news to me and I’m not mad about all of these choices. In particular, the casting of Frost as Hagrid as me very excited because I love him as an actor. He’ll make a great lovable giant who is there for Harry and his friends when no one else is.
Some of the casting could work but I don’t trust this show
I have strong feelings on Severus Snape. But one thing is undeniable: That man (in the books) is “wizard” racist and a misogynist. He quite literally is disgusted by Hermione because she is a “mudblood” and he said the same thing about Lily Evans, a woman he supposedly loved. So the implications of them casting Paapa Essiedu as Snape are messy at best.
Many have pointed this out. Snape as a character is not a “hero” and, if anything, he often used his status as a loner white man to harm others. So casting Essiedu does, in my mind, require a lot of changes that the show needs to do for him to work as a character. Snape quite literally abuses a child because said child’s mother did not want to be with him. That’s got a white man written all over it.
There are characters that the casting could have made a statement with if done the right way. Instead, casting Essiedu as Snape leaves more questions about what they’ll do with the characters than general excitement out of the gate. Especially given Snape’s more devious parts.
I love Essiedu and I think his work in shows like I May Destroy You and films like The Outrun prove his brilliance as an actor. There’s not a part of me that thinks he wouldn’t be great at Snape. The issue is that the source character is complicated. This feels like they saw that people tend to like Snape (could not be me) and thought that casting Essiedu would work because he’s talented and likable but did not…think about the implications with this character.
No matter what, the show still has Rowling attached
With every new bit of news that I want to engage with, I am reminded that J.K. Rowling still has her hands all over this show. Even if the series is just inspired by her work and they try to separate themselves as much as possible from her, Rowling still gets money because she’s still that attached to the Harry Potter franchise.
In recent years, Rowling has used her platform to continually attack the trans community and share misinformation about trans people. She’s used her X account to share harmful rhetoric and attack those who try to correct her or push back.
And so every time this show announces anything, I am reminded that she is still a major part of this production. So whatever excitement I may have or interest in watching, I quickly remember that I won’t be giving the show the breath it wants if her name is still attached to it.
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