With the new Harry Potter reboot comes the controversy that follows the cast. The Harry Potter books and movies have brought up a lot of fame to J.K. Rowling and the franchise, and it is up to this new cast to “live up” to the originals in the minds of many.
The Harry Potter franchise has been a fan favorite for many years, and it has gathered quite a fan following. The newest iteration has granted a lot of conversation and controversy surrounding everyone being cast. This is especially true in regards to the actor that will portray the new Professor Snape.
Paapa Essuiedu is a 35-year-old British actor of Ghanaian ethnicity. He has been seen in “I may destroy you” (2020), “Men” (2022), and “The Outrun” (2024).
Even though there are many actors portraying characters that people don’t think will succeed in their roles. This is because there are many similarities between the originals, and the actors who are portraying them now. Paapa Essuiedu is getting the most hate because of his race.
However the fact that he is a different race from the original casting should not matter in the long run. People should focus more on whether Paapa Essiedu is going to be able to portray Snape.
“With Professor Snape, people might like the older actor better because of his race,” Linganore High School freshman Ujwala Laggishetty said. “I guess there are still people like that nowadays.”
Paapa Essiedu is not the only actor that people think will not be able to fit into their role.
The casting of the original Harry Potter movies are so ingrained in people’s minds and popular culture that people believe the characters are supposed to look like the original actors.
One actor that people have talked about is Nick Frost who will portray Hagrid. According to an ENEWS article, when the director of the first two Harry Potter’s, Christoper Columbus saw the casting for Hagrid; he thought that he was seeing double. Upon seeing the costume and everything else he was shocked. He thought that it was going to be different from the movies but it was exactly the same.
Stepping into the role of Harry Potter is Dominic McLaughlin, an 11-year-old Scottish actor.
Being cast as such a beloved character is obviously going to come with its struggles.
Dominic McLaughlin is a relatively new actor so many do not know what he can bring to the franchise, much like the original Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe. This is also like the other two children cast as part of the golden trio, the actors who will portray Ron and Hermione, Alastair Stout and Arabella Stanton.
One other source of controversy regarding this young actor is how similar he looks to the original Harry Potter portrayed in the movies by Daniel Radcliffe.
Looking similar is not necessarily a bad thing, unless the primary reason he was cast as the new face of the franchise is entirely based on his looks.
If they have an actor that looks similar to the original actor and how the world currently envisions the character, but that actor has no creativity or acting ability, then the show will likely suffer for that reason.
Dominic McLaughlin is a new actor, so nothing can be known for certain.
His other co-stars Arabella Stanton and Alastair Stout have not been getting as much hate; however, there are still people who could think they are not right for the roles.
All of the kids playing these roles are relatively new actors.
McLaughlin and Stanton both have prior acting experience. McLaughlin acted in “Grow” (2025) and Stanton has starred in “Matilda the Musical” (2023-2024) and “Starlight Express” (2024) in West End, London. On the other hand, Stout is completely new to the acting world and everything that actors have to endure in that world.
There are many who are excited to see how the show does and can not wait to see what these young actors bring to the table.
“I feel like I’m excited because I want to know how it goes compared to the original casting of the old movies,” Laggishetty said.
Aside from the complaints about the new cast, there is a bigger issue for some. While there are certainly people who are excited for the TV series, others don’t believe they should even be making a series at all.
Harry Potter has been around for a long time, and though it is immensely popular, there are some people that believe that the Harry Potter franchise should be left alone, because they believe it has already been done before with the movies.
“Personally, I love Harry Potter a lot to the point where I never thought that anything had to change or anything needed to be added,” LHS senior Isabella Long said. “Even though a lot of details are missing from one of the movies, I still feel like they should have stopped [with the original films].”
Some people may be opposed to these new people portraying these famous characters, but the reality is the original cast have grown up and other actors portraying adult characters such as Professor Minerva McGonagal (Dame Maggie Smith) and Professor Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) have passed away.
There are people who want the cast to look as close to the original actors as possible and care less about their actual acting ability. These people don’t even want to watch the new series when it comes out.
“I don’t think I’m going to watch the new show; I think I’m going to hate it the entire time,” president of the LHS Harry Potter Alliance Morgan Smith said. “Even if they do a really, really good job with the plot, the casting alone is actually making me not want to watch it.”
The reason it is important for someone to look like the character they are portraying is so they can recreate the story as written.
There are many factors that go into casting and creating a movie or a TV show. When recasting a beloved series like this one, there is bound to be controversy and varying opinions over multiple things. In the end, what matters is how the directors bring the show to life and if the audience feels the same magic from the screen as the original books, and films generated.
