Paapa Essiedu says he’s going into HBO’s Harry Potter series with his team’s support after receiving death threats over his casting as Severus Snape.
In a March 2026 profile, Essiedu described the threats: “I’ve been told, ‘Quit or I’ll murder you.’” He said he hadn’t reported them, explaining: “I don’t think some 17-year-old boy being put in jail for two weeks for threatening to murder me would actually make me feel any better.”
“The whole team has been so supportive of me,” he said at the TIME100 Next gala in New York on Oct. 29. “Obviously, my priority is the work.” He also said he’d been struck by the support, well-wishes and excitement surrounding the series.
Essiedu, who was born in London to Ghanaian parents, said “the abuse fuels me.” What keeps him going is the possibility of a kid like him seeing himself at Hogwarts. He grew up reading Harry Potter, describing the books as “escapism,” though he’d never seen the films.
Jason Isaacs, who played Lucius Malfoy in those films, defended Essiedu in July 2025, calling him “one of the best actors I’ve ever seen in my life” and saying of the racist backlash: “What they’re being is racist.”
The series starts with Philosopher’s Stone and premieres on HBO and HBO Max on Dec. 25, 2026.
