Alan Rickmanas Professor Severus Snape is undoubtedly one of the best things about theHarry Potterfilm franchise. The actor’s performance brought the book’s character to life, infusing his cartoonish villainy with a deep pathos that will bedifficult to match in future adaptations. And yet, Rickman didn’t particularly want the role.
The director of the first two films,Chris Columbus, told the AV Club in 2021that Rickman “was reluctant because he didn’t want to be typecast as a villain.” He was eventually convinced thanks to a vital character detail from author J.K. Rowling—that “Snape loved Lily [Potter].” But even this almost didn’t keep him with the series. Asrevealed in the late actor’s secret journals, he tried to quit after the second movie,Chamber of Secrets. But thankfully for fans around the world, his campaign to bow out of the Potterverse was unsuccessful, and we have eight films featuring Rickman as the often cruel yet ultimately heroic Potions Master. Here are his best moments, ranked.
10Saving Harry During the Quidditch Match (Sorcerer’s Stone)
From the very beginning, Harry, Ron, and Hermione believed Snape was a villain, often failing to findthe real villainuntil way later. For the majority of the first film, the trio is convinced that their Potions professor must be the one trying to steal the Sorcerer’s Stone, completely missing the actions of the real culprit, Professor Quirrell.
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Take what happens at the first Quidditch match. When Harry’s broom begins violently jerking around on its own, Hermione quickly notices what she thinks is Snape jinxing the broom. What she doesn’t notice, though, is Quirrell also casting a spell; Snape was actually casting a countercharm to save Harry.
9Neville’s Boggart (Prisoner of Azkaban)
While this scene from the third film doesn’t technically feature Snape, the moment with Neville’s boggart in Lupin’s Defense Against the Dark Arts Class is absolutely delightful. Rickman, as a boggart taking on the appearance of Neville’s least-favorite professor, wonderfully encompasses his student’s menacing perspective.
When Neville successfullycasts the Riddikulus spellhe gives the boggart a more comical wardrobe than Snape’s typical attire, picturing the creature instead in his grandmother’s clothes instead. It’s a short scene, but Rickman’s portrayal of the embarrassed creature is a treat, and it’s also ironically a reminder of the character’s humanity.
8Snape Monitoring Study Hall (Goblet of Fire)
Snape’s role inGoblet of Fireis smaller than in the other films in the series, but one of the big scenes he does have in the movie is absolutely hilarious. Harry, Ron, and Hermione sit in study hall, quietly trying to solve the riddle of the second challenge and figure out who to ask to the Yule Ball. Snape monitors the room, frequently returning to Harry and Ron to keep them on track with some forceful head pushes and hair ruffling.
He’s in the background of most of the scene, at one point even hiding behind a notebook while clearly listening in to the conversation. The scene ends with Rickman performing Snape’s signature sleeve tuck before he grabs both Harry and Ron from behind and forces their heads into their books. What makes the scene that much funnier is the fact that Rickman doesn’t have to say a single word to get across his character’s annoyance.
7“Turn to Page 394” (Prisoner of Azkaban)
Any Snape list would be remiss to leave out the iconic “turn to page 394” moment from the third film. When Snape fills in for anabsent Professor Lupin, he takes the opportunity to subtly clue in the students on their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher’s true nature. He insists on instructing the students about werewolves, even though, as Hermione points out, they aren’t supposed to cover these types of creatures for weeks.
Rickman plays the character here with such authority, barging into Lupin’s classroom and taking over with his signature deadpan panache. While Harry and his classmates find their substitute teacher rather disturbing, it’s yet another moment where Snape is doing something to help the trio that despises him so vehemently.
6Humiliating Lockhart at the Dueling Club (Chamber of Secrets)
Hogwarts has infamously had several Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers over the years, but without a doubt one of the most obnoxious is famedauthor and charlatan Gilderoy Lockhart. So, watching him get some comeuppance from Snape during the dueling scene inChamber of Secretsis superb.
The scene is an early example of Rickman playing with Snape’s more mischievous side. Lockhart, clearly believing he will beat his opponent, calls up the professor for a demonstrative duel for the newly reinstated Hogwarts Dueling Club. What happens instead, though, is Snape immediately and effortlessly disarming the con man with an Expelliarmus. When Lockhart gets up and tells Snape he could’ve blocked if only he’d tried, the latter smugly suggests teaching the students defensive spells first before giving his duelist a sarcastic grin.
5Occlumency Lessons (Order of the Phoenix)
Harry’s mental connection to the Dark Lord plagues him from an early age, and in his fifth year at Hogwarts, it’s decided that he must learn how to shut his mind to Voldemort’s prying. An accomplished Occlumens himself, Snape is tasked with teaching Harry Occlumency, or the magic of closing one’s mind to the effects of a prying Legilimency spell.
The magic is extremely difficult to pull off, and when Harry begs Snape to let him rest, the professor reminds his pupil thatVoldemortisn’t resting and that “life isn’t fair.” Snape’s words and actions might seem cruel, especially to Harry, but Rickman imbues them with pathos and a sense of pity for the boy. When we see what’s in his own mind moments later, it’s clear why.
4Snape Reveals He’s the Half-Blood Prince (Half-Blood Prince)
The sixth film climaxes with the earth-shattering moment when Snape kills Dumbledore. Throughout Harry’s sixth year, he’s been guided through potions by the previous owner of his Advanced Potions textbook, a character who only refers to himself as the “Half-Blood Prince.” The former student’s notes are a far better teacher than Hogwarts' new Potions Master, Professor Slughorn, even containing several spells Snape himself came up with as a teenager.
After the murder, Harry chases down Snape to confront him, wildly throwing spells including the curse he learned from the Half-Blood Prince, Sectumsempra. With ease, the professor deflects the spell and sends out another, knocking Harry flat on his back. He approaches the boy, proclaiming “How dare you use my own spell against me. That’s right,I’m the Half-Blood Prince.” Another actor might have played the moment with overt confidence, but Rickman does it with a quiet fortitude which subtly hints that there might be more going on with his character.
3Harry’s First Potions Class (Sorcerer’s Stone)
Hogwarts' Potion Master certainly makes an early and striking impression on his first-year students. With signature flair and booming voice, Snape enters the classroom and immediately declares it a serious place before homing in on The Boy Who Lived. Without any provocation, the professor gives the Muggle-raised Potter a pop quiz that only Hermione could ace.
Related:Harry Potter: The Biggest Differences Between the Books and the Films
While the scene definitely sets up Snape as harsh and even cruel, it also hints at his complicated feelings toward the son of his greatest love and his worst enemy. As clever fans have deduced over the years, the first question Snape asks Harry can be interpreted as a hidden message that betrays his guilt and regret over Lily’s death. Even without this context, the moment is a memorable introduction to a complicated and beloved character.
2Snape Kills Dumbledore (Half-Blood Prince)
At the end of the sixth film, it feels as if every terrible thing Harry and the audience have thought about Snape through the first five films was justified. He killed Dumbledore, the man who trusted him most. It’s easy to see the headmaster’s final words as pleading for his life, but, as we come to find out later, it was quite the opposite. The already-dying Dumbledore was begging Snape to finish him off to put into motion the plan that would ultimately defeat Voldemort and deliver Harry from his cursed destiny.
At the momentwhen Dumbledore literallyasks Snape to do the deed, beseeching him simply “Severus, please,” Rickman takes a beat to really show his character’s dismay over what he’s about to do. Snape doesn’t want to kill Dumbledore, but it’s something he must do if he wants to protect Harry and honor Lily’s memory.
1“Always” (Deathly Hallows - Part II)
After years of buildup, the reveal of Snape’s tragic backstory is a hard-to-beat best moment for the character and Rickman’s portrayal of him. Voldemort, thinking Snape had become the Elder Wand’s master, uses Nagini to kill his once-loyal servant. As Harry holds Snape in his arms, the dying professor has Potter pull out his core memories. When Harry watches the memories through Dumbledore’s Pensieve, he discovers the truth. Snape loved Harry’s mom Lily from childhood, and because of that love, he vowed to guide and protect Harry.
In the last moments of the memory, Harry sees Snape send out his Patronus, a doe just like Lily’s, which Harry recognizes as the one that earlier led the trio to the sword of Godric Gryffindor. “After all this time?” Dumbledore asks, to which the love-struck Snape replies, “Always.” It was the knowledge that Snape loved Lily anddied a herothat kept Rickman going throughout the whole series, and to have his final moments be so poignant makes this the character’s best moment.
