‘Harry Potter’: Janet McTeer & Paapa Essiedu in Final Talks for Snape & McGonagall Roles!!

HBO’s highly anticipated Harry Potter TV series is closing in on two more major cast members, with Janet McTeer and Paapa Essiedu in final negotiations to join the Wizarding World. According to Deadline, McTeer is set to take on the role of Minerva McGonagall, while Essiedu will play Severus Snape, joining John Lithgow, who was previously reported as Albus Dumbledore. The series, which will run for a full decade according to reports, is set to be a faithful adaptation of the novels, and will see a key change in the depiction of the characters, as Harry Potter showrunner Francesca Gardiner has already confirmed the series will follow the canonical ages of key characters—including Snape, who will be just 31, making Essiedu’s casting an especially fitting choice.

According to Lithgow, the series is set to begin shooting in August, so we’ll be getting a lot more casting news in the near future. While the casting of the show’s lead trio remains under wraps—HBO reportedly received a staggering 32,000 audition tapes for the roles of Harry, Hermione, and Ron—Harry Potter’s Hogwarts staff is quickly taking shape. HBO has already confirmed that the Harry Potter reboot will embrace a more inclusive and diverse cast, continuing the precedent set by The Cursed Child’s Noma Dumezweni as Hermione and Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Who Are Janet McTeer and Paapa Esseidu?

The British pair are no strangers to working with HBO, which may have helped in their chances of landing these roles. McTeer played Winston Churchill’s wife Clementine in the HBO film Into the Storm, earning an Emmy nomination, while Esseidu landing Emmy and BAFTA nods for his role opposite Michaela Coel in the BBC/HBO limited series I May Destroy You.

McTeer has had a long and prolific career across TV and film, earning Oscar nominations for Tumbleweeds and Albert Nobbs, and most recently starring in Netflix’s Kaos and FX’s The Old Man. She will next be seen in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. Essiedu, who has also earned BAFTA TV nominations for The Lazarus Project, most recently starred in Netflix’s spy drama Black Doves and appeared opposite Saoirse Ronan in The Outrun at Sundance 2024. He will next be seen in the British horror-comedy The Scurry.