HBO has been forced to lock down its Harry Potter set after Ghanaian-English actor Paapa Essiedu, 35, who plays Severus Snape in the reboot, began receiving death threats.
Essiedu has been receiving disturbing messages ever since news broke of his casting last year.
HBO has ‘serious security team’ on Harry Potter set
Casey Bloys, CEO of HBO, spoke to Variety about employing extra security on set, saying, “With all actors on any kind of big IP shows – and this is obviously one of those where you’ve got, you know, passionate fans, people with a lot of opinions – it can get scary in places.
“So for any show like that, we anticipated it and tried to have training, you know, best practices in terms of social media and how to handle it.
“And obviously we’ve got a serious security team. So unfortunately, it was something that we thought might happen and we just try to be as careful as we can.”
In the movies, Snape was played by the late Alan Rickman, a white actor, and Essiedu’s casting in the series sparked a lot of less-than-kind conversation.
Harry Potter actor Paapa Essiedu reveals extent of fan abuse
“I’ve been told, ‘Quit or I’ll murder you,'” Essiedu told The Sunday Times, adding, “If I look at Instagram I will see somebody saying, ‘I’m going to come to your house and kill you.'”
“Nobody should have to encounter this for doing their job.”
Speaking about the emotional impact, he said, “I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t affect me emotionally.”
However, he also added that the abuse motivated his approach to the role, saying it “fuels me” and made him “more passionate about making this character my own”.
Essiedu also shared that Harry Potter was a big part of his childhood as an avid reader.
“My mum couldn’t afford a babysitter in the holidays, so she would take me to the library,” he said. “I loved Harry Potter.”
Interestingly, he confirmed he hadn’t seen the original films.
The main cast of the series has signed ten-year contracts, with the star saying, “It was a big commitment, I’ll be 45 by the time I finish.”
The star has limited comments on his Instagram posts, so, thankfully, his recent post is filled with support.
“You are going to smash this!” wrote one person, while another added, “Something very special brewing. Cannot wait.”
“The thing is, you actually look INCREDIBLE, MATE. DREADS!?” wrote a third.
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