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?

I would LOVE Tom Felton to play Lucius Malfoy.

I really want the character to feel like the Snape of the books for me, rather than the hammy version of the films. IDGAF if he looks exactly like the description in the book or not. Rickman didn’t look like Snape for me either.

Pretty sure nobody noticed or cared about Alan Rickman's age when he played Snape. It's a sinister, stylish, dramatic character who already in the books brought a certain image to mind. Rickman was perfect.

Don’t like any except Nick Helm

I don’t think they can make any of the Weasley’s black.

I agree, shying away from making a pivotal (apparently, not actual) villainous character black seems like a sort of racism.

I think I might find PE as Snape hardest to get used to just at first, but I think if he does as good a job as they seem to think he will with the acting then that feeling won't last long at all.

To the people saying no one had a problem with Alan Rickman's age, I don't think that's true. It was often commented on as not being right. His voice and acting experience were seen as making that compromise worthwhile though. I think PE is less well known but the same will happen with him if he makes a good job of the role.

i really rate Paapa Essiedu

Agree he would be great because he's frigging awesome in everything. Although obviously not as Peeves, something charming and charismatic.

I'm chuffed about Janet McTeer. I was pissed off when they cancelled Kaos because her Hera was superb.

I’d much rather they made a series picking up from the platform scene with grown up Harry, what are their lives like now as adults?

That’s been done already with The Cursed Child

Lockhart?

I’d rather Sirius because he’d be around more, but Lockhart would do.

Not by much. I know Sirius feels like a big role but really he’s only a minor character in terms of screen time. A tiny part at the end of 3, a couple of letters in book 4 and then he dies in 5.

I think Cumberbatch would have been a good Snape.

Too old. He’s 48 now. I think having 30year olds playing Sirius, lupin etc it’s important to show how young they were when fighting the war. Harry’s parents were early 20s when they died.

True, I still think of him as being in his 30s. I forget Sherlock tv show is like 15 years old now!

Oooh.... Great idea. Can we have Simon Pegg too?

What are they even thinking?! How could they cast a black actor to play Severus Snape? This is completely beyond common sense. Snape is a canon character, with a very specific description in the books: pale skin, greasy hair, a dark, brooding appearance. His image is carefully built and is a crucial part of the entire story's atmosphere!
Changing the character’s appearance like this is a slap in the face to the fans who grew up with the books and the films. This isn’t about race — it’s about respect for the original source material!
It feels like the creators just want to check some "diversity" boxes instead of making a faithful adaptation. If they don’t care about how the characters are supposed to look and feel, then clearly they don’t care about the story itself either. It’s sad and honestly disgusting.
I refuse to support this farce. For me, the real Snape will always be the one portrayed by the great Alan Rickman. Everything else is just a pathetic mockery.

What are they even thinking?! How could they cast a black actor to play Severus Snape? This is completely beyond common sense. Snape is a canon character, with a very specific description in the books: pale skin, greasy hair, a dark, brooding appearance. His image is carefully built and is a crucial part of the entire story's atmosphere!
Changing the character’s appearance like this is a slap in the face to the fans who grew up with the books and the films. This isn’t about race — it’s about respect for the original source material!
It feels like the creators just want to check some "diversity" boxes instead of making a faithful adaptation. If they don’t care about how the characters are supposed to look and feel, then clearly they don’t care about the story itself either. It’s sad and honestly disgusting.
I refuse to support this farce. For me, the real Snape will always be the one portrayed by the great Alan Rickman. Everything else is just a pathetic mockery.

Even though AR was far too old and considerably too attractive to play skinny, greasy-haired, sallow-skinned, hook-nosed, yellow-toothed Snape?

Blimey calm down. Alan Rickman, brilliant though he was, was not a faithful representation of the book character, given that he was several decades too old.
A film or TV programme is an adaptation or interpretation of a story, not a photographic reproduction.

This isn’t about race — it’s about respect for the original source material!
It feels like the creators just want to check some "diversity" boxes instead of making a faithful adaptation. If they don’t care about how the characters are supposed to look and feel, then clearly they don’t care about the story itself either. It’s sad and honestly disgusting.

Think similar was said online about characters in Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who and the latest version of The Little Mermaid.

Yes, there was a huge schism about blonde versus dark-haired Legolas!

I was thinking more about the online ranting about The Rings of Power casting, but yeah, they did argue about blond being impossible for Sindar males.

Just dropping this link to an interview with John Lithgow from today's Times. I'm looking forward to seeing him play Dumbledore.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/c977616a-9dca-4304-90ac-ae0b6b35e742?shareToken=ab3c8761dd17996fcb8f4a4f5ffdf539

Great interview.