‘SNL’ Addresses Snape Casting in HBO’s ‘Harry Potter’ Show

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HBO is developing a new Harry Potter television series, and that means a fresh cast of actors will be taking on the beloved roles of characters like Hermione Granger, Hagrid, and Professor Dumbledore, among others.

The casting of Paapa Essiedu (known for roles in Gangs of London and I May Destroy You) as Severus Snape, the Potions Master at Hogwarts, has been particularly talked about. Even before the announcement was official, some people reacted negatively to the idea of a Black actor playing Snape, and Essiedu received death threats after the casting was confirmed. Several actors from the original Harry Potter films have spoken out against this racist response.

With the release of the trailer for the new Harry Potter series, the show is getting a lot of attention. Recently, Saturday Night Live, with Jack Black as host, joked about the casting of Snape during the Weekend Update segment, with cast member Kam Patterson portraying the character.

Patterson suggests that the way Snape is portrayed could change how we see Harry’s first year at Hogwarts, as described in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. He points out that, essentially, “Harry Potter, or the Proud Boy Who Lived, spent the entire year claiming the school’s only Black teacher was secretly malicious.”

It seems like unexpected teaching assignments are common in the wizarding world. As Patterson jokes, ‘They immediately told me I was the professor of the Dark Arts!’ While the books show Snape actually wanting to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts but constantly being denied the position, let’s not overthink it and spoil the humor.

In a recent sketch, actor Miles Snape, playing a character, made a joke at the expense of Kingsley Shacklebolt, a Black character in the story, suggesting his name sounded like it came from the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan. Comedian Colin Jost, co-host of Weekend Update, then commented that this made him question the author J.K. Rowling, referencing her history of controversial statements about transgender people.

Some have discussed how casting a Black actor as Snape could shift the story’s themes in the Harry Potter universe, and Saturday Night Live recently explored this idea with a humorous take. We’ll see how the new Harry Potter series on HBO addresses this when it debuts this Christmas.

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2026-04-05 20:05