After months of speculation, HBO has announced part of the cast of the latest round of Harry Potter IP-mining: the new TV adaptation of the original books will feature John Lithgow as Dumbledore, Nick Frost as Hagrid – and Paapa Essiedu as Snape. As the Mail and Telegraph’s headlines were quick to inform their readers, yes, this means a “Black actor” in that iconic role.

There is a real concern that Essiedu is drinking from a poisoned chalice – that he will be associated with an author who is at the forefront of a gender-critical movement that has succeeded in redefining the rights of trans people to their detriment; that he will have to weather the racist storm of Potterheads enraged at the diversion from “book accuracy” (Snape is described as having “sallow skin”); and deal with opportunists looking to illustrate their next rant about how the world has succumbed to “woke orthodoxy”. All of this in a show that is slated to last a decade.

I’m sceptical about colour-blind casting, especially when it’s presented as a magic bullet for diversity concerns in the arts – but I can’t help but enjoy the audacity of Black Snape. If any performances from the original films were going to be rethought considerably – considering that casting so far is relatively aligned in appearance, bar a more handsome Quirrell – Snape is the most obvious choice. Alan Rickman’s depiction was so singular that any actor who hewed closely to it would........

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