This Harry Potter Casting Was So Convincing It Unnerved Rupert Grint
As HBO forges ahead with a Harry Potter reboot, the originals are being reappraised for their near-perfect casting—from Daniel Radcliffe’s boy wizard to Robbie Coltrane’s gentle giant. And one performance still casts the strongest spell.
With HBO gearing up to reboot Harry Potter, we all end up doing the same thing: thinking about how freakishly good the original casting was. Not just the big three. Pretty much everyone. And then there is Alan Rickman as Snape — the performance that still bulldozes the room. He was so dialed in that even the kids on set felt it.
Rickman scared the daylights out of young Ron Weasley (in a funny way)
Rupert Grint has told plenty of sweet stories about growing up on those sets, but one memory is equal parts hilarious and mortifying. In a compilation clip that circulates on YouTube, Grint looks back on shooting a Potions class during Sorcerer’s Stone, scribbling a not-so-flattering caricature of Rickman between takes — without realizing the man himself was standing right behind him watching the whole thing.
"I drew this rather unpretty picture of Alan Rickman, and as I was drawing it Alan Rickman was standing right behind me, and I was so scared."
Grint says he wanted the floor to swallow him. Rickman, in peak Rickman fashion, later revealed he kept the drawing and made Grint sign it.
"I made him sign it, and I have it in my possession. And I'm very fond of it."
Classic. That pretty much sums up his vibe on those films: the Die Hard legend could turn the temperature in a room with a glance, and he brought that same low, lethal energy to Snape. It bled into the off-camera moments too — not because he was mean, but because he was convincing.
Why that performance is a headache for HBO
Rickman made Snape mysterious, magnetic, and legitimately intimidating — the guy you feared, then ended up defending, and then felt weirdly protective of. That is exactly the problem for any new version: whoever takes the role is walking straight into a comparison they didn’t ask for, up against a portrayal that still feels untouchable.
There has also been online chatter claiming HBO has cast Paapa Essiedu as Snape, which would obviously shift the conversation from 'Can anyone match Rickman?' to 'Why change the character this way?' For what it’s worth, the reboot has been pitched as sticking closely to the books. Also important: as of now, HBO/Max hasn’t officially announced casting. So treat those claims like smoke until we see fire.
The franchise at a glance (for quick context)
- Franchise: Harry Potter
- Author: J.K. Rowling
- Books: 7
- Films: 8 mainline (not counting the 3 Fantastic Beasts movies)
- Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
- Key cast from the films: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes
- Box office: About $9.5 billion across all 11 films (the 8 Potter films plus 3 Fantastic Beasts)
Bottom line
Rickman didn’t just play Snape — he redefined him for a generation, to the point where even his co-stars were a little rattled. That’s the bar the reboot has to clear. Whether they chase that exact energy or detour entirely, we’re going to be measuring it against the quiet menace that made Rickman, well, Rickman.
Where do you land on his Snape: definitive, or room for a new spin? The movies are on Max in many regions right now if you want to revisit and argue with me about it later.