The Internet Despises the 'Harry Potter' TV Series, But for Very Different Reasons

The casting for HBO’s Harry Potter television series was officially announced yesterday. If it weren’t for all the other issues surrounding the series and the author of its source material, or the fact that no one really wanted a Potter series, the casting might have been warmly welcomed by certain Internet segments. Here are the highlights:

John Lithgow as Albus Dumbledore
Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall
Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape
Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid
Luke Thallon as Quirinus Quirrell
Paul Whitehouse as Argus Filch
(Casting decisions for Harry, Hermione, and Ron have not yet been announced)

I know what this particular audience thinks about the Harry Potter series, but out of curiosity, I checked the comments on the NYTimes announcement on Bluesky to see if others on that social media platform shared the same sentiment. Overwhelmingly, they did. Here’s a sampling of the comments on that post:

— HBO showering more millions on that hateful b*tch Rowling.
— Fuck this.
— There was a time in my life I’d have been so excited for this. Too bad Joanne decided her second act would be rampant transphobia
— Thanks, but no thanks. Rowling needs to fade into obscurity and quickly.
— No thanks, I refuse to put one red cent in the hands of the evil terf known as JK Rowling. Fuck her!
— Hope this garbage flops hard
— Yeah I’m going to encourage everyone not to watch this thanks

It’s precisely the reception one might think the series would get from posters on a platform largely used by politically left folks.

Given that, I wondered what they’d say on X, the Elon-Musk social media platform that tilts decidedly right. I wondered, for instance, if MAGA would embrace the Harry Potter series to “own the libs.” Would the series become a political litmus test?

And I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but given all the controversy surrounding JK Rowling’s transphobia, I forgot to account for the … racism. Here’s a sampling of comments under the Discussing Film announcement on X.

— Paapa Essiedu should not have been cast Severus Snape in the Harry Potter TV series.
— Snape being black is an absolute disgrace
— Paapa Essiedu, keep deleting comments on your Instagram. It’s not gonna change the facts. You are not fit to play Snape. There are lots of characters you can cast different than book description, but Snape is not one of them. WORST CASTING EVER.
— This is DOA. Not a chance the public will accept a race swap this large. What are they thinking. Racism masked as diversity isnt progress.
— The casting of Snape like how wrong can one go♀ ..why does everything have to conform DEI.
— Life lessons from Rings of Power not had…people are sick of the racist crap Hollywood puts out. The anti white propaganda will no longer be accepted.
— This would have been perfect if they hadn’t cast a black man as Snape. It completely goes against every description of the character
— The series is dead because of the Snape casting decision.

You get the point. Half the Internet hates the Harry Potter series because of JK Rowling’s involvement, while the other half hates it because they cast a Black actor as Snape. Personally, if JK Rowling weren’t a dealbreaker, I’d have been all in on the casting, especially Paapa Essiedu as Snape. However, I’d still have major reservations about devoting seven seasons to a property that already has seven books and eight movies.

And maybe that’s just the Internet. Maybe it will all melt away when the series premieres. Maybe the average Potter fan doesn’t care about these controversies. That’s the bet that HBO seems to be making, at least. I don’t think it’s going to be a complete flop, exactly. Still, I have a feeling that Zaslav is looking at a very expensive, seven-season serious underperformer and that HBO will regret moving ahead with the series. Brett Goldstein, however, made the absolutely correct decision.