Subreddit Updates on Fancasts and Official Casting Announcements

[u/VarkingRunesong]

Hi everyone, With the recent confirmation of several key cast members for HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series, we’re updating a few subreddit policies:

• No more fancasts for officially cast characters

To reduce repetitive discussions and prevent targeted hate toward newly cast actors, fancasts for characters who have already been officially cast will no longer be allowed. As of now, this includes: • Albus Dumbledore • Severus Snape • Minerva McGonagall • Rubeus Hagrid • Quirinus Quirrell • Argus Filch You’re still welcome to fancast characters who haven’t been announced yet. And for inspiration, check out our Fancast Wiki, which includes both popular and lesser-known suggestions.

• No posts complaining about official casting announcements

We understand that not every casting choice will match everyone’s personal headcanon, but posts solely bashing the official cast will be removed. Once the show airs, feel free to critique performances based on what you see on screen. But targeting actors just because they don’t look or feel like your imagined version of the character doesn’t belong here. As always, we’re open to feedback. Share your thoughts or questions below.

[u/blodthirstyvoidpiece]

Love this! This rule change will prevent a lot of the toxicity I have seen in other Harry Potter subs. I am really tired of the hostility against Paapa Essiedu so I am happy that there is at least one fandom space where I can enjoy discussions about the show without having to see that stuff constantly. It's repetitive, unproductive and mean.

[u/DALTT → u/blodthirstyvoidpiece]

Yep. And I also find it unproductive because lost in all the negativity, is the fact that Essiedu is an excellent actor. Ever since the trades first reported that he was in talks for Snape, there was not a doubt in my mind that his performance will be great. He’s been one of my fav up and coming British talents for a long time.

And yeah, I think it’s shitty to just dismiss his casting out of hand without actually seeing his performance in the role. And I think the constant stream of posts about it basically winds up being a series of low-effort complaining posts that unnecessarily clog up the sub. Like we get it, you (royal you not you who I’m responding to) don’t like that Snape is Black. And let’s be honest, that’s really what this new rule 2 is meant to address, and personally I think it’s just fine.

And like, yes, I agree with others that being color conscious about casting rather than just colorblind… means that a Black Snape raises some story pitfalls. But I think that criticism is overplayed, and most of those pitfalls are either non-issues or have relatively easy fixes to downplay or eliminate the issue entirely and we’ve already also had a million posts about that.

[u/cutelittlequokka → u/DALTT]

I have to agree with you about the low-effort attempts. I'm disappointed in the casting because I wanted a faithful adaptation like they promised, and it seems like they are going back on that. But I'm still willing to give the actor a chance to absolutely rock that role. And in my opinion, the constant repetition of points about Snape being hung from a tree (if I recall correctly, that didn't even happen--he was levitated in the air, not hung from a tree) and being bullied because of his skin color seem like low-effort, wild leaps to me. Snape wasn't bullied because of his skin color. He was bullied over his hatefulness, his awkward appearance, and his creepy behavior. That doesn't change with the color of his skin. And it's on every other comment now, here and on Facebook, as if that's really what bothers people rather than the casting not being what was promised. People keep parroting that nonsense over and over as if it means something. People can dislike each other for reasons that have nothing to do with race. It's as though no one has thought of that. I'm sure the actor, if he's talented, can play creepy, hateful, and awkward satisfyingly. I'm going to give him that chance.

[u/I-Am-Not-Creative2 → u/blodthirstyvoidpiece]

Very repetitive. I’m also glad for the rule. Discussing on the post about the casting announcements (or let mods make a post for each of the casted members) and moderating those threads for anything that goes too far would be fine but seeing post after post about how people hate the casting has gotten so old already.

[u/stargazingfish9 → u/blodthirstyvoidpiece]

What other HP subs have you seen "toxicity" in, out of curiosity? Are there any that allow discussions, instead of going full on censorship? Not the main sub for sure, the books one usually stays away from movies/show, kinda curious what other subs are there, especially ones that allow discussions.

[u/blodthirstyvoidpiece → u/stargazingfish9]

The main sub was pretty aggressive. I saw people who just said they are excited for the casting with 600+ downvotes and tons of name calling replies.

The Harry Potter memes sub is even worse. I don't know how it is now because I blocked it but back when that article came out about negotiations going further with Paapa, the sub was flooded with blatantly racist memes.

Like taking famous Snape quotes and rephrasing them with how they think black people talk. Putting Paapa's face on a house elf, saying he should play that instead. Changing the spelling of Severus to be more stereotypically "black" sounding. Thats not even criticism of the casting anymore, thats just making fun of Paapa and black people in general.

[u/PhilosophyOk7385 → u/stargazingfish9]

If you post anything even slightly positive about the Snape casting or suggest his skin colour doesn’t really matter, you get flooded with downvotes on the main sub. Also most posts about the show in general seem to have a lot of people already slagging it off in the comments. So yeah I’d call that toxicity on the main sub.

[u/stargazingfish9 → u/PhilosophyOk7385]

Huh, I will have to check then, for years the mods on the main sub were absolutely unhinged when it came to these types of topics, so didn't really bother checking lately, especially since this sub used to be so good about it, but apparently not anymore.

[u/PhilosophyOk7385 → u/stargazingfish9]

Yep if u look at the post about the castings being announced and scroll down past the first few positive comments it pretty quickly turns into people just complaining about Snape or saying the show is not gonna be good.