Warner Bros. Discovery faces a problem that is pretty unique within the annals of modern media: they're working on making a new TV show based on the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling, which remain very popular decades after publication. Rowling herself, once considered a poster child for liberal views, has remade her image over the past several years. She's now best known for her transphobic stances, peddling in alarmist stereotypes disproven with a glance at the research or just by talking to trans people about their experiences. She's publicly feuded with cast members from the Harry Potter movies, divided fan communities and even engaged in some light Holocaust denial, which remains one of the weirder low points in this journey. The issue has consumed her public persona, with Variety noting that over a two-month period she tweeted about trans issues 200 times (excluding replies) and about Harry Potter eight times, and one of those times was to share how she was laughing at a fan who was "disappointed" in her involvement in the new Harry Potter show.
The vibes are very bad, but cutting Rowling out of the process isn't really an option, if that's something WBD even wanted to do in the first place. Thus far, the studio has been fairly noncommittal about Rowling's transphobia, releasing a statement about the importance of “a diverse and inclusive culture" back in 2020, around the time things really started to get wild. But now, they're more bullish on her involvement, saying in a statement that her contribution has been "invaluable."
"We are proud to once again tell the story of Harry Potter — the heartwarming books that speak to power of friendship, resolve and acceptance. J.K. Rowling has a right to express her personal views. We will remain focused on the development of the new series, which will only benefit from her involvement."
It's hard to know what's responsible for the change in tenor. Maybe with the Harry Potter show getting underway, they figure it's time to embrace Rowling's involvement rather than awkwardly equivocate. I also have to assume that the recent election win for Donald Trump, who campaigned for president on rolling back the rights of trans people, makes it seem less risky to publicly support a transphobic celebrity like Rowilng.
Warner Bros. Discovery endorses Harry Potter author: "J.K. Rowling has a right to express her personal views"
Fan communities remain in an awkward place. Variety talked to people like Melissa Anelli, author of Harry, a History and webmistress of fansite The Leaky Cauldron. Anelli says the site hasn't uploaded an episode of its popular PotterCast podcast since March of 2023. “Every time we sit down to have a fun conversation about Harry Potter, the conversation becomes angry and depressing, and so we end up not publishing,” she said. “It’s made it less pure and exciting and fun the way it used to be. All of that now has this layer of, ‘Right, but the person at the center of it all believes a certain faction of the population isn’t real.’”
Kat Miller is the creative director of MuggleNet, another popular fansite, as well as the co-author of The Unofficial Harry Potter Companion. She opines that the fanbase “definitely has fractured, and I think that is mostly because of her. There are just too many political things that are interfering with the enthusiasm being at 100%.” She points out what's been the weirdest irony of this whole situation from the beginning: that the author of a book series that extols the values of empathy and understanding has made it her mission to demonize a tiny minority of people who are far more likely than cis people to be victims of violent crime and harassment, despite transphobes trying to flip that narrative. That's especially surreal for a fanbase that Miller describes as "majority women, and very, very, very queer.”
As for how this could actually leak into the Harry Potter show, as opposed to just the narrative around the Harry Potter show, things remain unclear. I don't know how much influence Rowling will really have over the production, but it's possible she could rewrite things to account for her transphobic views. A worst case scenario could be something extreme, like introducing a bunch of a new Death Eater characters who are trans people, or changing Voldemort's evil mission so it's now about integrating public bathrooms. But I can see it manifesting in smaller ways. For instance, there are multiple times throughout the Harry Potter books where members of one gender enter a bathroom meant for another, like when Harry has to go into Moaning Mrytle's bathroom to open up the Chamber of Secrets, or when he and Ron enter the girls bathroom to save Hermione from a troll. Before she was radicalized, Rowling likely gave those moment no more thought than most people — they're just part of the plot, not a commentary on politics — but now, Rowling and other transphobes are obsessed with the idea of bathroom exclusivity, so do these innocuous moments get altered?
I very much doubt that people will be so up in arms about Rowling's transphobia that they don't watch the series; despite the chatter online, most people probably don't even know about it, which is likely for the best. If the Harry Potter show is good, I think it will be a hit. As for where that leaves superfans who object to Rowling's views, co-author of The Unofficial Harry Potter Vegan Cookbook Tyler Starr has an idea: he's exploring ways to "offset" the purchase of new Harry Potter material. “If you buy a new wand, can you donate a portion of that to a transgender charity?” he asks. “There are so many fans who deeply disagree with what Rowling is saying, but still want to engage in the Harry Potter fandom.”
The Harry Potter show doesn't have a release date. We'll see how things shake out over the next few years. “Abandoning the fandom and shutting it down is not the place we wanted to be,” Miller said. “We see the value in the community that the fans created. We can love and enjoy that without the author.”
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