Quote from Naaga on April 15, 2025, 11:12 pm

My response, as I've always stated in other threads. 😹😹

Quote from FIQ on April 16, 2025, 11:03 am

I don't really care about changing appearance from the book, but I am somewhat concerned over the implications of the main character seeing a black person and going "yeah he is totally evil" for most of the series. And then there is the Marauder bullying, but that would be a rather small part of the series.

So I voted undecided.

Quote from Snoopy on April 18, 2025, 7:15 am

^ This. I voted 'hate it', as you can't change his race without adding a bunch of extra connotations to other parts of the books/plot. It goes from 'we don't like him because he's weird/ugly/poor' to 'we don't like him because we're racist and he's not white'. If you want to make a fantasy series where human race is a major theme, then go for it. But Harry Potter already has magic vs non magic genetics as a major theme. Adding this on top will just confuse things.

That, and there are multiple references in the books to just how pale/sickly/sallow/sour milk/pallid/marble white Snape looks. And an illustration of his appearance on top of that. He's probably one of the only characters where there's zero wriggle room to explain him not being white.

Quote from Lily Rayvn on July 14, 2025, 3:51 pm

I agree. Totally.

Quote from VespertilioScribe on October 8, 2026, 12:14 pm

To be honest, I’m absolutely against it. Yes, partly because of his appearance—for me, there’s only one Severus Snape: Alan Rickman. He shaped the character so much for me that it’ll be incredibly hard to accept anyone else in that role.

Of course, I realize that a new series can’t just bring back the old actors and that a remake is allowed to have its own interpretations. But in my opinion, they could have cast someone who comes much closer to the established visual image of Severus Snape. For me, the difference is just too big. It feels a bit like suddenly replacing a character you’ve associated with a very specific appearance for years with a completely different interpretation—the name may stay the same, but the character no longer feels like the same one to me.

And then I also wonder how certain scenes from the past are supposed to be portrayed—for example, the scenes where the Marauders bully Snape. For me, these scenes in particular are part of his story and explain a lot about his later personality. How does the series intend to portray this credibly without suddenly raising entirely different social and historical questions?

Of course, Harry Potter is fiction, and within that world there are, for example, the conflicts between pure-bloods and Muggle-borns. But when racism is portrayed realistically, an additional layer comes into play—precisely because such topics are very sensitive today. I’m therefore really curious to see how the series will handle this.

I’ll definitely give Paapa Essiedu a fair chance. Maybe he’ll even surprise me. But if, after a few episodes, I still feel that this version of Severus Snape just doesn’t work for me at all, I probably won’t keep watching the series.

For me, at any rate, Alan Rickman will always be Severus Snape.

Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) Always

To be honest, I’m absolutely against it. Yes, partly because of his appearance—for me, there’s only one Severus Snape: Alan Rickman. He shaped the character so much for me that it’ll be incredibly hard to accept anyone else in that role.

Of course, I realize that a new series can’t just bring back the old actors and that a remake is allowed to have its own interpretations. But in my opinion, they could have cast someone who comes much closer to the established visual image of Severus Snape. For me, the difference is just too big. It feels a bit like suddenly replacing a character you’ve associated with a very specific appearance for years with a completely different interpretation—the name may stay the same, but the character no longer feels like the same one to me.

And then I also wonder how certain scenes from the past are supposed to be portrayed—for example, the scenes where the Marauders bully Snape. For me, these scenes in particular are part of his story and explain a lot about his later personality. How does the series intend to portray this credibly without suddenly raising entirely different social and historical questions?

Of course, Harry Potter is fiction, and within that world there are, for example, the conflicts between pure-bloods and Muggle-borns. But when racism is portrayed realistically, an additional layer comes into play—precisely because such topics are very sensitive today. I’m therefore really curious to see how the series will handle this.

I’ll definitely give Paapa Essiedu a fair chance. Maybe he’ll even surprise me. But if, after a few episodes, I still feel that this version of Severus Snape just doesn’t work for me at all, I probably won’t keep watching the series.

For me, at any rate, Alan Rickman will always be Severus Snape.

Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) Always