Redditors immediately zeroed in on how they're either going to have to change the plot significantly, or race swap Harry and James Potter as well, or the Snape casting is going to make the TV reboot get real racist real fast.
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Yeah, I thought of that when they announced and I'm not even on Reddit. Any other characters could easily change sex or race, but Snape and his backstory is pretty fixed. Like, they practically lynch the guy so perhaps just this once the character should absolutely remain anglo.
My only thought is that maybe nobody is expecting the series to last it enough seasons for Snape's backstory and how he got treated by James and Sirius to make it on screen.
I'm also so very disappointed in Lithgow for agreeing to be in this--it is a rare thing, but his turn as Roberta Muldoon in World According to Garp was so very respectful in the 1980s of the trans community it helped make me kinder and more aware of people who just want to live their lives.
There is also the fact that the racism and fascism allegory isn't great in places and casting a black actor as a significant Death Eater seems likely to force this problem into sharper relief.
I doubt they will, because as far as I know, her deal with WB gives her levels of creative control that authors don't normally have over adaptations of their work, and she seems unlikely to be on board with name changes.
I am inclined to agree. This makes the casting of Snape the more baffling. I can think of several unpleasant explanations about how she sees minority rights as demands for exceptionalism (she has talked about trans rights that way but it could be broader for all I know).
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There is also the fact that the racism and fascism allegory isn't great in places and casting a black actor as a significant Death Eater seems likely to force this problem into sharper relief.
But really no idea.