“Harry Potter” has returned to the limelight lately, with the new TV series that HBO is preparing and which for months has been fueling hypotheses, ideas, doubts and even perplexities. The news that among those eligible to play the legendary Severus Snape, immortalized by the great Alan Rickman, there is also the British actor of Ghensi origins Paapa Essiedu, has reignited the controversy about the advisability or otherwise of the so-called colour-blind casting , or the practice of assigning roles regardless of the actor’s ethnicity or race. A diatribe that has been at the center of fierce controversy for years now, which has also had an impact on the success or otherwise of various productions.

Pros and cons of colour-blind casting

HBO’s “Harry Potter” TV series hasn’t come out yet and there’s already no shortage of problems. As has happened other times in the past, the problem concerns casting and since it is a saga that has become simply mythological for entire generations, it was an easy problem to foresee. JK Rowling, the author, gave her approval to the production for the choice of actors and actresses who will have to bring her characters to life (a second time). Among these, few are more memorable and more popular than Severus Snape, to whom the late Alan Rickman gave a face and voice for all the films of the saga, always in a memorable way. Now, however, it seems that Paapa Essiedu, an emerging face of British cinema and television, will take up the baton. Only a rumor in reality, but the fact that the name of an interpreter of Ghanaian origins was mentioned, very different physically from the character described by Rowling and Rickman, has reignited the controversy regarding the opportunity of colour-blind casting, a practice that has become increasingly popular, especially in British productions, with numerous controversies that have inflamed social media and the internet.

This no longer simply concerns mere works of fiction, such as “Harry Potter”, “Bridgerton”, “the Buccaneers” and a host of other small and big screen productions. As in Great Britain, in fact, overseas, several real historical figures have recently been played by actors belonging to minorities, clearly moving away from historical realism. After Arthur, Achilles, David Copperfield, it was then the turn of Anne Boleyn, Machiavelli, Cleopatra, gradually arriving at Denzel Washington, who will become none other than Hannibal the Carthaginian in an upcoming historical blockbuster directed by Antoine Fuqua. Paapa Essiedu, however, is a name that Variety magazine immediately publicised, aware of the fact that the announcement of a massive colour-blind casting for Harry Potter by HBO had already come out in the past and controversies had already arisen which were not to be Nothing. Of course, HBO is an absolute guarantee in the world of TV series, starting from “Roma”, passing through “Game of Thrones”, “Band of Brothers”, “The Wire”, “The Sopranos”, no one can stand up to it still today. Yet, the colour-blinc casting for “Harry Potter” could create much more serious problems for her than some isolated controversy on the Internet.

A choice that often appeared exploited

Colour-blind casting has actually always been a dominant element in the audiovisual industry. The simple difference is that Caucasian actors once played all sorts of characters, often creating stereotypical and demeaning portrayals of other ethnicities and populations. In recent years, however, the space for minorities has expanded further in the industry, not only by virtue of a differentiation of the audience that production companies must take into account, but also of a consistent evolution in society and its values. Paapa Essiedu as the new Severus Snape in “Harry Potter” is certainly a particular move, not only because Alan Rickman left a great memory, but also because the character has a very precise and detailed description. Of course, Great Britain has in its immense theatrical tradition a historical vehicle of diversity and inclusiveness which, not surprisingly, is now also reflected in the cinema and television tradition. However, looking at the controversies, then dormant, inherent to similar operations in the cast of “Dune” or in “House of the Dragon” for example, it must be said that the solution appears to be the simplest: giving the public a high quality product .

Controversy rages when the public is faced with colour-blind casting that seems to be used as a screen, a sort of moral wild card with which to elevate productions that are often poor from a qualitative and artistic point of view. Other times we had the impression that this practice, combined with heavy reinterpretations with a moralizing flavor, were also created to deliberately fuel controversy and media hype, with which to try to promote the product. But the rather disappointing results in this sense of “The Little Mermaid” or “The Rings of Power” are there to make us understand that this is a double-edged sword, and that perhaps colour-blind casting is not always the best choice for caress the audience in the right direction. The phenomenon of review bombing in this sense is a direct consequence of often incorrect communication. Playing Severus Snape will be a tough nut to crack for anyone, and the same can be said of any other character in the “Harry Potter” universe. Perhaps the point is precisely this: to avoid comparisons and problems, we should simply accept the fact that the remakes, sequels, reboots with which the audiovisual industry is inundating us, are just a practice to be abolished. Maybe we need to go back to creating something new and stop thinking that riding the nostalgia effect or constantly shuffling the cards is a good idea.