Overview
- Essiedu, in an interview published Monday, said Instagram users threatened to kill him if he did not step away from playing Severus Snape.
- He said the abuse fuels his resolve to make the role his own, though he acknowledged the messages have hurt him emotionally.
- The threats followed backlash to casting a Black actor as a character the books describe as white, a dispute that has raged on social media since the announcement in April 2025.
- Production on the HBO series is underway, with each book planned as a season and a 2027 premiere targeted, and the ensemble includes John Lithgow, Janet McTeer, and Nick Frost.
- Outlets such as Der Spiegel, Stern, and WELT tie the harassment to ongoing rows over J.K. Rowling’s views on trans people, noting how those tensions have unsettled parts of the new cast.