There are a couple of rumors surrounding a revival of the Harry Potter franchise, with fans pointing at the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as the best next move, but if a movie adaptation was to happen, it would face an impossible recast issue. Back in 1997, J.K. Rowling shared the Wizarding World with readers all over the world in the novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The book was the first in a series of seven novels that told the story of “the boy who lived” and Lord Voldemort, the darkest wizard of all, who had dangerous plans for the Muggle and Wizarding worlds and a personal vendetta against Harry.
The Harry Potter book series became a cultural phenomenon, so it didn’t take long for Hollywood to set eyes on it and bring it to the big screen. The Harry Potter movie saga was released between 2001 and 2011, with the final novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows divided into two movies. The success of the books and novels has allowed the Wizarding World to expand to other areas, such as video games, spinoff movies (with the Fantastic Beasts trilogy), and even theme park attractions, but the story of Harry Potter on the big screen came to an end with Deathly Hallows Part 2.
Among the current trends in the entertainment industry are reboots and revivals, and a lot has been said about potentially reviving the Harry Potter saga. A live-action TV series is said to be in development at HBO Max, and fans have speculated that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child could either be adapted into a TV series or a movie, thus giving the audience a look at Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger now as adults and introducing their children and their own adventures. However, if it was to happen, Cursed Child would face an impossible recast issue, as the story includes none other than Severus Snape.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a two-part play written by Jack Thorne with a story by him, Rowling, and John Tiffany. It’s set 19 years after the events of Deathly Hallows, with Harry now working as the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic, and his son, Albus Severus Potter, preparing to attend Hogwarts. Cursed Child deals with time travel and thus brings various characters from the Harry Potter series back, including Severus Snape, who in the original timeline is killed by Voldemort. As Snape is an important character in Cursed Child, he would have to be included in a movie adaptation, but the original Snape actor, Alan Rickman, passed away in 2016. It would be near-impossible to recast Snape for Cursed Child, especially as Rickman’s performance as the mysterious teacher was impeccable and widely praised by critics and fans, and even if the whole cast was recast, it would be very hard to fill Rickman’s spot.
Of course, there’s nothing confirmed about a possible Harry Potter and the Cursed Child adaptation (whether to TV or film), and there are a lot of aspects playing against it, but recasting Snape is definitely one of the biggest problems it would face. The future of the Harry Potter franchise is unknown, but if a Cursed Child movie is to happen, there are many important details to consider before greenlighting the project.