Jason Isaacs says he has no time for the backlash over the casting of Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape in HBO’s “Harry Potter” TV series
Alan Rickman portrayed the role of Snape in the original films. Essiedu is twenty years younger than Rickman was when he took on the role, as well as being physically very different – most notably his skin color.
Isaacs, who portrayed Lucius Malfoy across the films and most recently appeared in “The White Lotus” on HBO, is famous for speaking his mind and being quite straightforward and candid interviews.
Appearing at FanExpo in Denver (via Collider), he called out those fans who have an issue with Essiedu taking on the role of Snape:
“Paapa Essiedu is one of the best actors I’ve ever seen in my life. I’ve seen some people online who are being rude about him. What they’re being is racist. All the cast of the new Harry Potter TV series are amazing. They will be swallowing their tongues, hopefully — you know, their digital tongues – when they see what [Paapa] does on screen.”
Like Rickman, Essiedu was Royal Shakespeare Company trained. He’ll co-star in the new series alongside John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, and Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid.
Newcomers Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton take on the core roles of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger in the series.
