Hermione<\/p>\n
WB<\/p>\n
HBO finally announced who would play its core cast members \u2013 Harry, Ron and Hermione \u2013 in the upcoming Harry Potter series<\/a>, which is based off the hit book series. The films rocketed its core cast to stardom.<\/p>\n Now, fans fear culture war backlash for a few of the cast roles, namely Paapa Essiedu cast as Severus Snape and, now, the young Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger. Essiedu is Black, and while Stanton looks almost exactly like a young Emma Watson, but with a different skin tone, and that\u2019s enough to cause unfortunate controversy.<\/p>\n The accusations of \u201crace swapping\u201d characters who were originally white are frequent in media and, as a whole, not legitimate casting complaints. However, this case raises questions about how specific bits of source material will be handled given the events that took place in the books and films, as well as how those characters might take on new, unforeseen racial dynamics with this casting.<\/p>\n LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 05: Paapa Essiedu attends the 2024 Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year … More Awards, held in partnership with The Platinum Card by American Express, at Claridge’s Hotel on November 5, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Dave Benett\/Getty Images for Harper’s Bazaar UK)<\/p>\n Dave Benett\/Getty Images for Harper’s Bazaar UK<\/p>\n For Essiedu\u2019s Snape, his story eventually leads to the revelation that he was relentlessly bullied by James Potter back in the \u201870s, hung upside down with magic at one point, and pining after Lily \u2013 James\u2019 eventual wife. That bullying and love triangle takes on a new dimension with Essiedu being one of the only cast members of color as now it\u2019s confirmed that will not be the case with either Potter parent. It\u2019s an uncomfortable dynamic when you think about how that\u2019s going to play out onscreen.<\/p>\n For Hermione, we are going to get into awkward territory when there is an entire storyline about her starting a movement to free house elves from slavery, something that\u2019s laughed off by everyone else as a dumb cause.<\/p>\n Past that, Hermione is a frequent target of attacks about her genealogy. She\u2019s called a \u201cmudblood,\u201d a slur about her non-magical parents producing a magic child, but calling a young, non-white girl a \u201cmudblood\u201d seems\u2026 different in that context.<\/p>\n It is the case that the house elf storyline was already cut from the films because there was just not enough time to include that side-story, not for controversial reasons (though the big moment of Dobby being accidentally freed was still in the adaptation when it came time for that).<\/p>\n As for Hermione being attacked for her heritage and Snape being bullied by James Potter, that seems harder to get around. One argument is that they can claim all this is actually a metaphor for racial injustice and that Harry Potter is being smart and progressive with that commentary, but it\u2019s impossible to believe that was ever the actual intent of the story. Sure, the Malfoys are in effect more or less pureblood Aryan stand-ins, but this is also a series that had almost no minority characters at all and none in major roles.<\/p>\n It is laudable that the cast is going to be more inclusive, but with the specific characters that were chosen here, and only those characters, from what it seems, this is going to be more complicated than I think they realize, and we will have to see how this is handled.<\/p>\n Follow me <\/strong>on Twitter<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>YouTube<\/strong><\/a>,<\/strong><\/a> Bluesky <\/strong><\/a>and <\/strong>Instagram<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Pick up my sci-fi novels the <\/strong>Herokiller series<\/strong><\/a> and <\/strong>The Earthborn Trilogy<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n