‘Harry Potter’ Actor Paapa Essiedu ‘Wouldn’t Have Taken This Job On’ If He Couldn’t Handle Snape Casting Backlash: ‘My Priority Is the Work’

When HBO released the first-look image of Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape in the upcoming “Harry Potter” series, it became immediately clear that the show was going for something different. Unlike Alan Rickman’s Snape, Essiedu sports shoulder-length dreadlocks and a more gothic look, swapping the character’s signature buttoned-up robes for a zip-up leather jacket and a flowing, oversized black cloak.

“I think the aesthetic is important,” Essiedu told Variety Thursday night at the TIME100 Next Gala, grinning at the suggestion that his Snape was the more stylish of the two adaptations. “I don’t know if style is necessarily at the forefront of my mind when generating the character, but I think the way he looks tells so much about who he is — and who he wants people to think he is. It’s all incredibly well thought through and collaborated with the incredible costume department.”

Essiedu previously opened up to The Sunday Times of London about the racially motivated death threats he’s received over his casting as Snape, which he said have “fueled” him to make the character his own. As the series’ Christmas premiere approaches, the actor praised his “Harry Potter” colleagues for supporting him in the wake of the toxic online backlash.

“The whole team has been so supportive of me,” Essiedu said. “Obviously, my priority is the work. I wouldn’t take this job on [otherwise], but I walk into it with open eyes. I understand the broad spectrum of what the reaction to what we’re doing means, and I take that mantle on with an open and full heart. I’ve also been blown away by a lot of the support and well-wishes and excitement.”

Essiedu was honored as one of Time’s 100 rising stars defining the next generation of leadership in business, entertainment, sports, politics, and more in New York City. The actor made a name for himself in the U.K. after becoming the first Black actor to play Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2016, winning the Ian Charleson Award, and subsequently earning two BAFTA nominations for his performances in “I May Destroy You” and “The Lazarus Project.” The “Harry Potter” TV series, which Warner Bros. execs are touting as the “streaming event of the decade,” could be the project that catapults the award-winning actor to international stardom.

“I’m really proud of what I’ve seen so far,” he said. “There are so many people who worked so hard on this project — and who it means so much to. It’s been a long time coming. It’s been a long time that people have been saying a lot of things, and now’s the time for people to engage with what we made.”

“Harry Potter” Season 1, based on “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” will debut on HBO Max Dec. 25.