Recently, the Scottish government moved to include transgender people under its umbrella of same-sex protections. In response, the anti-trans advocacy group For Women Scotland challenged the moved, with some funding from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who has become one of the leading anti-trans voices in the world over the past several years. The challenged worked, and the U.K. Supreme Court ruled that trans women are not legally women. In an example of what actor Pedro Pascal called "heinous loser behavior," Rowling posted a picture of herself smoking a cigar on her superyacht to celebrate.
In response, more than 400 professionals from the U.K.'s film and television industry have signed an open letter in support of trans rights, according to The A.V. Club. Among the signatories are several actors who have worked in the Harry Potter universe, including Katie Leung (Cho Chang in the movies), Eddie Redmayne (who played lead character Newt Scamander in spinoff series Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), and I May Destroy You star Paapa Essiedu, who will play Professor Severus Snape in HBO's upcoming Harry Potter TV show.
The Harry Potter story has a ton of characters, and if HBO is going to cast actors to play all of them, something like this was going to happen sooner or later. I guess it's happening sooner. There's no way that HBO can work with Rowling, who has basically made attacking trans people her life's mission, and not expect some from its giant cast to push back.
The question is: how strong will that pushback be? Actors like John Lithgow, who will play Professor Albus Dumbledore, was already asked about Rowling's views, and said they weren't a factor in his decision to take the role. I predict many more questions like that during the lead-up to the show's premiere in 2027, and potentially a lot of different answers. Will that anger Rowling? Will she try to exert influence over the cast? Does she have the power to do that? I predict we'll see some of those questions get played out in public.
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