After all this time, HBO’s Harry Potter TV series may have found its Snape. The live-action Warner Bros. Television series — which held an open casting call for the three lead roles of Harry Potter and best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger earlier this year — has reportedly offered British actor Paapa Essiedu the role of Professor Severus Snape, the half-blooded wizard and Head of Slytherin House at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The late Alan Rickman played the character in all eight of the Harry Potter movies between 2001 and 2011.
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, which first reported the news, the Emmy nominee has been offered the part, but a deal has not been reached. Deadline reports that “no formal offers have been made” to Essiedu at this time.
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“We appreciate that such a high profile series will draw a lot of rumor and speculation,” HBO said in response to Esseidu’s casting. “As we make our way through pre-production, we will only confirm details as we finalize deals.”
In addition to his role as Kwame on the Michaela Coel-created BBC One-HBO series I May Destroy You, the BAFTA Award and Emmy-nominated actor starred in the first two seasons of the Sky-AMC series Gangs of London and headlined the Skymax series The Lazarus Project. Essiedu’s credits include episodes of Anne Boleyn and the “Demon 79” episode of Black Mirror, the London-based Netflix thriller series Black Doves, and the upcoming crime thriller Sweet Dreams.
The official casting call issued in September noted that HBO is “committed to inclusive, diverse casting” for the Harry Potter series and welcomed performers to submit auditions “without regard to ethnicity, sex, disability, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other basis.”
The surly Slytherin is best known for his unrequited and undying love for Harry’s mother, Lily. Originally a Death Eater who served Dark Lord Voldemort, Snape eventually betrayed the dark wizard and became a double agent for Dumbledore — even uttering the killing curse that killed Dumbledore in The Half-Blood Prince (named after Snape’s moniker).
During his tenure at Hogwarts, Snape was appointed Potions Master and to a short-lived position as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor before becoming Headmaster in the Second Wizarding War, which ended with Snape and Voldemort’s deaths in the Battle of Hogwarts.
HBO has yet to announce any Harry Potter cast members, but Oscar winner Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies) is reportedly being eyed for the role of Albus Dumbledore, the Hogwarts Headmaster who mentors Harry and is Snape’s most trusted confidant.
Francesca Gardiner (HBO’s Succession and His Dark Materials) is serving as showrunner and executive producer. Mark Mylod (HBO’s Game of Thrones and The Last of Us) is an executive producer and will direct multiple episodes of the series, described as a “faithful adaptation” of author J.K. Rowling’s book series.
Per HBO, “The series will feature a new cast to lead a new generation of fandom, full of the fantastic detail and much-loved characters Harry Potter fans have loved for over twenty-five years. Each season will bring Harry Potter and these incredible adventures to new audiences around the world, while the original, classic and cherished films will remain at the core of the franchise and available to watch globally.”
Rowling will executive produce with Neil Blair (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) and Ruth Kenley-Letts (C.B. Strike) via Rowling’s Brontë Film and TV in association with HBO and Warner Bros. Television. David Heyman, the Oscar-nominated producer of the Harry Potter films, Barbie, and Wonka, is also executive producing via his Heyday Films.
