Harry Potter fans- what do we think of the HBO show casting so far?

[AngeloMysterioso]

John Lithgow self-confirmed as Dumbledore;
Paapa Essiedu very heavily rumoured as Snape;
Janet McTeer apparently "in talks" to play McGonagall;
Phoebe Waller-Bridge rumoured as Petunia Dursley.

(Admittedly most of these are still conjecture).

For my part... I'm not sure about most of them. John Lithgow is a fantastic actor and did a brilliant job with Churchill, but he's nearly 80... I know Dumbledore's meant to be 100-and-something but as a character he's still very virile and powerful, and I'm not sure he'll be able to do that justice.

Paapa Essiedu as Snape. I thought he was great in Gangs of London, does a really good job with a quietly calculating, slightly sinister character with plenty of gravitas. But he's rather gorgeous, and Snape is not meant to be at all attractive. And, let's not beat around the bush... he's black. I'm not at all against colourblind casting where appropriate (Bridgerton, fantastic- black Anne Boleyn, half-Chinese Bess of Hardwick, not so much). I don't know how it will be possible to show the backstory of James, Sirius, Remus and Peter loathing and bullying Snape without it coming across as being in any way racially motivated, plus the optics of black person=villain isn't great (yes I know he is redeemed right at the very very end). If I were to give him a role, I'd have cast him as Remus. Still the same strong, serious, don't-mess-with-me vibe but without the menace and evil.

Janet McTeer as McGonagall- no problems there. She's excellent in everything I've seen her in, it'll be hard for anyone to fill Maggie Smith's shoes but hopefully she'll be up to the task.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Petunia... I wasn't sure at first but I'm hoping she'll be able to bring her comedy chops to the table and make the character funny as well as intensely unlikeable. I'm trying to imagine who could play Vernon opposite her though?

Interested to hear other people's thoughts about the cast so far and who they'd like to have in what roles if it's possible?

I think I'd give Tonks to Daisy Edgar-Jones, Voldemort to Benedict Cumberbatch, Lockhart to Glen Powell (is there scope to make that character American? I think so), Perhaps Kit Harington as Sirius and I think Natalie Dormer could absolutely go to town with Trelawney.

What do we think?

Daveed Diggs! I'd love to see him in it but I'm not sure I see him as Peeves

Why is ChatGPT assuming the ethnicity of characters has to be white?

Seriously, try asking it.

Why is ChatGPT assuming the ethnicity of characters has to be white?

Seriously, try asking it.

No point. When you ask ChatGPT things like that it says something like "you're right, diversity is important, here is a more diverse list of suggestions".

I can cope with most bizarre casting decisions (though I think introducing a racism/lynching connotation to the Marauders v Snape dynamic is insane).

If anyone has a noticeable American accent, I will abandon it, though.

Part of the actual reason though will be that it's basing suggestions on the cast of the film, that's where it's getting some of its information around the characters. So it's making suggestions based on "what characteristics does Alan Rickman have" and finding similar (along with of course characteristics from the book).

It's an example of how if AI is working with non-diverse inputs, it will create non-diverse outputs.

I just asked it to suggest someone to play Hermione in the cursed child, and it suggested 5 black actresses, and 1 white. This will because a lot of the information it can find about Hermione in the cursed child will be around Noma Dumezweni playing her. So it has pulled out actresses it feels share characteristics.

True! They’re going to need to be mid-20s and they’ll need to film all of their appearances across the books in one go or they’ll age out!

Yes! Him! I think I see him as Peeves because he has so much energy, but I think there are multiple roles he'd suit!

Jason Momoa would also make a fab Hagrid

Oh yes! Definitely 😀

Lily and James die at 21 but the thought of actors that age playing them just seems too young for some reason.

I had a whole dream casting list at one point, the ones that spring to mind were James McAvoy as Snape, on the basis of his performance in Cyrano (tortured unrequited love) Arthur Darvill as Arthur Weasley (Mark Williams played his Dad in an episode of Doctor Who and I like the congruence) James Acaster as Peeves (yes I know he finds JK's views on women's rights difficult, but I expect a fair few luvvies will manage to contort themselves into nonchalance when their potential for immortality via the TV series is explained to them) Nish Kumar as Hagrid, Meera Syal as Trelawney.
I had Sophie Okondeo as Narcissa I think.

Chris Ecclestone as Dumbledore...Jessica Hynes as McGonnagle

I agree. I always thought Hagrid should be more of an attractive figure. Big, strong, loyal, protective, kind, loves animals. I would...

Just to say that it's ok for non whites to play villains - unless your audience is so literal minded they can't understand nuance.
Who wants to play the goodie two shoes all the time?

Snape would be an amazing role for any actor to want to play. Please don't let virtue signalling go the other way so that BAME performers are limited once again in our choices. And don't use "but a black man can't play that character because it's racist" become the misguided purity flag you wave in front of being angry about a black man being cast in an amazing role you think a white man should be cast in. The actor could have said no. He's obviously thrilled to say yes and is probably practicing his best silken whisper before bed every night.

All power to the new cast member's wands. What lucky actors!

Agree with black actors playing unsympathetic characters - I'm fine with a black Snape - we're applying our own sensitivities from 2025 at a fictional account of the early 1970s 1980s - where - sorry to break this to people, there was more racism (I know we are not perfect in 2025, far from it) and it's not a huge leap to consider that James - & Harry had racist thoughts - (if we take Harrys distrust of Snape to be based on his race) this adds complexity to the characters.

Snape being black also makes Lily a more empathetic character - the muggle who sees past skin colour to form a bond with young Severus.

The wizarding world is a strange place - fantastic beasts, 1930s- ish, America - much more diverse casting, black characters in positions of power in the wizarding world, then fast forward 40 odd years, off to the UK and it's a lot whiter. What the hell happened? Did Voldemorts rise to power have elements of white supremacy? If so, how do we account for Snape's closeness to Voldemort? If we argue the wizarding world is indicative of the muggle world in terms of population (Hogwarts, 70s and 80s in Scotland, kids from across the UK) Then 1930s America doesn't work (slavery) in the same way, other than arguing the wizards are more evolved in terms of integration.

All of my theorising aside (yes, too much time on my hands) it's important in terms of 'see it, be it' I am 100% for black Hermione with her muggle Dentist parents trying to liberate house elves (slightly less that some don't want to be liberated...but I see that more in terms of a feminist approach than one of race) a black girl cast as Hermione dilutes accusations of Harry distrusting Snape because he is black..

Excited for more casting news.

💯 @Snapespeare

I saw the original Cursed Child on stage with Noma Dumezweni.
Was she Hermione?
Yes.
Did she look like Emma Watson?
No
Does Emma Watson look like book Hermione?
No.
Did the other cast members look more like the book/film characters?
Yes
Did I cry at a poignant scene between Noma as Hermione and Ron?
💯 snotting into my tissues.

I hope Papaa RELISHES the role.

Just as a side note but along a similar vein, Scar in the Lion King has now been played by both iconic white and black actors. All have been great castings.

When I've read the books to my kids, Snape had always been one of the most enjoyable characters to do the voice of, along with Hermione and Hagrid. It's an actors dream.

Does anyone think they'll be trying to make a long running series out of this? So after the book plots are done making it a basic magical school story series?

It’s already going to be at least 7 years in the making - 1 series per book. Not many shows ever go beyond that.

Spin offs will be entirely at JKR’s whim. I can’t see her allowing her product to be diluted.

Would love to Cillian Murphy as Voldemort. Think he would be awesome!

John Lithgow is a brilliant actor and any concens about his nationality can be put aside by his performance as Churchill in The Crown. My only worry is with how old he is. Richard Harris was DUMBLEDORE and it was a shame we lost him after the second movie.

Paapa Essiedu as Snape is simply an awful casting IMO. Snape is an ugly, pathetic white incel who joins the magical equivalent of the Nazis or the KKK. His race and appearance are integral parts of who he is and race swapping him complicates his interactios with all the other main characters in the story.

James and the marauders now bully a poor black kid including hanging him from under a tree....

Lily 'chooses' the white guy over the black guy.

Harry and the kids mistrust the only black professor....

There are countless more examples...

I personally think Adam Driver would have been perfect for the role and that Paapa would have made a great Kingsley Shacklebolt.

I’m a big Snape fan and rather excited by the prospect of Paapa Essiedu playing him. I loved Alan Rickman but he was pretty hammy in the role. But the adults in the films didn’t really have all that much screen time so you can see how it could happen. The fact he’s very dishy can be overcome with prosthetics and costume and I just don’t see an issue with him being black. The addition of a perceived racial component to the bullying will only serve to underscore what dickheads James and Sirius were at school.

I agree and would love Daveed Diggs to be in it as he is absolutely phenomenal.....but I don't see him as Peeves. I could see him as Sirius!

Cillian Murphy as Voldemort would also be excellent.

There's no reason to think Snape would be the only black teacher. That kind of thinking means black actors can never have fun playing villains - in case they are the only black people cast and it looks racist.

Rowling, however unrealistically, wrote a wizarding society where race and colour didn't matter. Dean, Padma, Parvati, Cho are all implied to be non white but don't suffer racism. Snape doesn't need to be a white incel to be a death eater (and he's not much of an incel, is he? He respected Lily. He shows no signs of misogyny). Not all villains are cut from the same cloth. People of any race and colour can be prejudiced (and can repent and reform).

Make Harry, Hermione or Ron black if having white heros and a black anti-hero seems too much.

I can’t wait for the re-make. The original versions, good though they are, are looking a bit tired now and cgi has made great advances in the meantime. There’s a lot of anticipation for the remakes. I wince a bit at the performance of the 3 leads in the original films these days, there will definitely be some new talent out there that could do a better job.

One of the things I’m looking forward to is finding out what accent Paapa Essiedu is going to use for Snape. The description of Spinners End in the books suggested a northern industrial town.

Oh! Vernon - Daniel Mays please. (Thank you!)