Report: HBO To Race Swap Severus Snape In Upcoming Harry Potter TV Series Despite Promise To Remain Authentic To Original Books
A new report alleges that HBO and its parent Warner Bros. will race replace Severus Snape in its upcoming Harry Potter TV series despite the company’s promise to remain authentic to the original books.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit and James Hibberd report that actor Paapa Essiedu “has been offered the part [of Severus Snape] although it is not clear if negotiations have begun in earnest.”
In J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone book, she describes Snape, “Professor Quirrel, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin.” When Harry asked Percy who the teacher was, Percy replied, “No wonder he’s looking so nervous, that’s Professor Snape.”
Elsewhere in the novel, she describes him, “As Gryffindors came spilling onto the field, he saw Snape land nearby, white-faced and tight-lipped -- then Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up into Dumbledore’s smiling face.”
If HBO and Warner Bros. do indeed plan on casting Paapa Essiedu, it shows that their initial promise that the show would be authentic to the books was nothing more than a bald-faced lie.
And that is what they promised. In a press release the company detailed, “The stories from each of Rowling’s Harry Potter books will become a decade-long series produced with the same epic craft, love and care this global franchise is known for. The series will feature a new cast to lead a new generation of fandom, full of the fantastic detail, much loved characters and dramatic locations that Harry Potter fans have loved for over twenty-five years.”
“Each season will be authentic to the original books and bring Harry Potter and these incredible adventures to new audiences around the world, while the original, classic and beloved films will remain at the core of the franchise and available to watch globally,” it explained.
J.K. Rowling even noted at the time, “Max’s commitment to preserving the integrity of my books is important to me, and I’m looking forward to being part of this new adaptation which will allow for a degree of depth and detail only afforded by a long form television series.”
Furthermore, a casting call on the official Wizarding World website for Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley stated, “The TV series, which will serve as a faithful adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, recently found its showrunner – Francesca Gardiner, while Mark Mylod will direct several episodes and serve as executive producer.”
However, the casting call also stated in the fine print, “We are committed to inclusive, diverse casting. For every role, please submit qualified performers, without regard to ethnicity, sex, disability, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other basis protected by law unless otherwise specifically indicated.”
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The series also hired Andy Greenwald to be one of its writers according to a Writers Guild of America listing.
Greenwald made it clear he was not interested in doing a rigorous adaptation of the books back in February on his podcast, The Watch.
When asked if it would be possible to directly adapt Rowling’s Harry Potter novels to television. He initially bluntly responded, “Yes.”
He then explained just how popular the novels and franchise are, “These are really, really rich and they are very long books especially later in the series. People adore them. And successive generations are discovering them and loving them every day. … The stores are packed everywhere they are in the country and around the world. People are buying the chocolate frogs and the hats and the owls, all of it. You can monetize almost every single aspect of it. And they kind of have.”
Next, he stated, “So the idea of an incredibly rigorous text-to-screen adaptation is, I think, probably a safe bet to be a success.”
However, he then shared his thoughts on this, “If something is trumpeting its absolute rock[steady] faithfulness, I think the pleasures that can be derived from that are probably not going to be for me because I didn’t read all the books. I read them to my older daughter until she could read them for herself and then she dusted me.”
“And I think maybe there’s some other creative possibilities within this world, but J.K. Rowling controls all of it and is not going to let anyone else come play with her toys. And that’s her right and is obviously very profitable for her. So that’s what we get.”
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Rowling also previously approved a race swap of Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child stage play when it cast Noma Dumezweni in the role.
Rowling defended the decision telling The Guardian, “With my experience of social media, I thought that idiots were going to idiot. But what can you say? That’s the way the world is. Noma was chosen because she was the best actress for the job. When John told me he’d cast her, I said, ‘Oh, that’s fabulous’ because I’d seen her in a workshop and she was fabulous.”
On top of all of this, Warner Bros. Discovery’s Chief Global DEI Officer Asif Sadiq is on record obviously promoting the DEI agenda, but actively sharing tactics with other executives on how to excise opponents of the illegal agenda from not only his company but others.
As reported by News Busters, Sadiq was a panelist for an Aspen Institute webinar titled The Future of DEI in Corporate America at the end of February.
Sadiq would share his comments after Design Observer Editor-in-Chief Ellen McGirt stated, “We came up with this strategy, and I love it. It is: Find your people and ignore the person you cannot persuade. You know exactly who they are, and if you can’t bring yourself to do it because of your professional orientation, give it 30 days. Ignore them for 30 days. Don’t take the bait. Don’t send them the clip. Don’t send them the newsletter. Don’t send them the deck. Just focus on the people who are willing to do the work. The new arrivals to the work. The new leaders who are preparing, as we’ve talked about to be better allies, to be more vulnerable, to communicate better; work preparing them. … But absolutely do not get caught into that spin cycle of trying to persuade the most powerful person that you know who is not interested to be interested because they’re not coming. 30 days you can do it.”
Sadiq reacted to these comments saying, “And if I can just add on to that point because I think it’s such an important point. Even beyond leaders, there’s always those few people who will never change. You will never convince them. You can try up until the end of eternity and it will still not happen. We waste so much energy doing that sometimes as individuals whether you’re in a leadership position or in a team and so on.”
He continued, “Focus on the ones who want to change because that way you start changing culture. And if you change culture often those people who don’t come around will start saying this place isn’t the way it used to be and they’ll leave themselves, which is great!”
He didn’t stop with sharing this tactic of pushing people out of the workplace, Newsbusters also reports he said, “I think this is a moment where people have to show up as actively being anti-racist.”
“And that requires going a bit further than saying, ‘That’s not me, so I’m just going to sit back.’ That requires you using your power, privilege and the positions you hold to try to create equity for marginalized groups, for historically marginalized groups and groups who haven’t had access, but that requires really stepping up,” he said. “And it’s showing up as well, showing up internally, showing up to even to the structures that DEI has put in place, whether its business resource groups, employee resource groups, events, showing up during this period of time for a leader is critical, because it shows that you care and you are willing to learn.”
Ironically, Sadiq has previously admitted his entire Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion division at Warner Bros. Discovery division has been a failure.
During an appearance at Royal Russel School Croydon, Sadiq discussed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion departments and revealed companies in the United States spend over $8 billion on them.
He said, “Every organization trying to drive change, trying to create a workplace that’s more inclusive, a society that’s more inclusive. In the US alone $8 billion were spent on diversity training and many more billions globally to try and create that equity that everyone wants to see, feel in the workplace.”
He went on to reveal the programs are not successful, “It’s not driving the change that we want to see. We are not achieving the success that people want to feel in the workplace.”
Sadiq then explained why he believes these programs have failed and thus are a waste of $8 billion annually, “Why is that? Well, I argue that very training is biased. It’s built with stereotypes. It has assumptions. It’s not always diverse or inclusive. And many times it does the very opposite of inclusion.”
What do you make of this race replacement of Severus Snape?
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