Without a Legilimency Spell, John Lithgow is confused by how J.K. Rowling could be both the person wrote the Harry Potter books and the person who espouses anti-trans opinions online.
Lithgow, who’s set to play Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore in HBO’s Harry Potter television series, sounded off on the subject at the International Film Festival Rotterdam on Sunday.
“I take the subject and the issue extremely seriously,” he said, per The Hollywood Reporter. “J.K. Rowling has created this amazing canon for young people, young kids’ literature that has jumped into the consciousness of society. Young and old people love Harry Potter and the Harry Potterstories. It’s so much about acceptance. It’s about good versus evil. It’s about kindness versus cruelty. It’s deeply felt.”
Therefore, Lithgow finds Rowling’s transphobic statements “ironic and somewhat inexplicable,” he said. “I’ve read about them, and I’ve never met her. She’s not really involved in this production at all. The people who are re-adapting Harry Potter and turning it into an eight-year-long TV series are remarkable. … These are people I really want to work with.”
He went on: “Of course, it upsets me when people are vehemently opposed to my having anything to do with this. But if you read through the Harry Potter canon, you see absolutely no trace of transphobic sensibility. She has written this great meditation on kindness and empathy and acceptance, which is why it’s so strange to me.”
The 3rd Rock From the Sun alum said Dumbledore is a “beautiful role” but joining the project was a “hard decision” because of the controversy around Rowling. And the criticism around his doing so made him “uncomfortable and unhappy.”
In an interview with The Times published last April, Lithgow said he was surprised by the backlash to his casting, and he showed his interviewer that a friend had texted him the Book Riot article titled “An Open Letter to John Lithgow: Please Walk Away From Harry Potter.”
In that letter, Danika Ellis wrote, “Right now, trans people — and trans young people, especially — are facing an attack on their rights and well-being. And J.K. Rowling is one of the loudest voices leading the charge against them … That’s why I’m writing to you today, asking for you to walk away from your role in Harry Potter. Your name lends credence to the adaptation, and by extension, it helps to grow J.K. Rowling’s platform to further her crusade against trans people’s rights.”
Aside from Lithgow, the Harry Potter TV show’s cast includes Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter, Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley, Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, and Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid.
Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and HBO Max content, told Deadline in a new interview that the series will premiere in early 2027.
Harry Potter, Series Premiere, Early 2027, HBO
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