The Real Reason Alan Rickman Almost Quit Harry Potter

Alan Rickman was many things on Harry Potter: the arched eyebrow, the voice like velvet sandpaper, and, it turns out, a guy who did not always love the grind. His journals pull back the curtain on the good, the bad, and the oddly relatable reasons he stuck it out as Severus Snape.

Azkaban had a wobble

In entries shared from his journals (via The Guardian), Rickman says returning to the Potter set often felt surreal, like the machine never actually shut down between films. But during Prisoner of Azkaban in 2004, one day started with a power outage and put him in a funk that lasted the whole day. He also clashed with Alfonso Cuaron. Not a blow-up, more a low-burn confrontation. They talked it out off set and moved on, but the vibe that day was rough.

Rickman vented about a very nerdy production problem: the crew would sometimes block and rehearse the cameras before the actors were really ready to go. He thought the kids needed more hands-on direction in those moments, and he noted that Emma Watson could be shaky on early takes before finding it. Combine that with Cuaron pushing a bold visual style on a franchise schedule, and yeah, not exactly a breezy shoot.

Why he never bailed

Even when he felt drained or boxed in, Rickman stayed because he believed in Snape. He knew more than almost anyone else on set about where the character was headed. J.K. Rowling told him Snape’s full backstory early, which gave him a private compass when scenes felt mechanical or repetitive. She later confirmed it on X with a line that pretty much says everything:

I told Alan what lies behind the word 'always'.

On top of that, he took commitment seriously. He had signed on; fans were growing up with these movies; so he saw it through. What began as a patience test turned into the defining role of his film career and one of the genre’s most layered antiheroes.

The teacher behind the sneer

Off camera, Rickman was quietly the grown-up in the room for the younger cast. The tributes that followed him tell the story:

• Daniel Radcliffe remembered Rickman cutting short a vacation in Canada to see him in Equus, and said he turned up to every stage show he did while Rickman was alive (via Variety).
• Emma Watson called him a truly special presence, on set and off, when she reflected on him in 2016 (via The Guardian).
• Tom Felton described him as very, very kind with a wicked sense of humor (via People).

So yes, he could be impatient with the process, but he also showed up for the people. That balance is probably why his Snape still lands the way it does.

What do you remember most about Rickman’s Snape: the dagger looks, the final reveal, or the way he somehow made silence do all the work?

All eight Harry Potter films are currently streaming on Max (formerly HBO Max) and Peacock.