HBO is working on a new Harry Potter TV show, with several roles already cast and more on the way. This project has under fire for a number of reasons, not least of which is because original Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is "very involved" in the process, as HBO executive Casey Bloys said last year. In recent years, Rowling has emerged as one of most influential transphobes in the world, publicly feuding with actors from the Harry Potter movies, dividing fan communities and making hating trans people pretty much her full-time job.
If J.K. Rowling is involved in anything, there's no avoiding this issue. It's already caused some divisions among the cast of the new Harry Potter show, after Paapa Essiedu — who will play Severus Snape — joined over 400 other professionals from the U.K.'s film and television industry (including several actors from the Harry Potter movies) in signing an open letter in support of trans rights. Now, Bloys is back at it, justifying the decision to work with Rowling and assuring fans that her transphobia isn't being woven into the new series.
“The decision to be in business with J.K. Rowling is not new for us. We’ve been in business for 25 years,” Bloys told Variety. "It’s pretty clear that those are her personal, political views. She’s entitled to them. ‘Harry Potter’ is not secretly being infused with anything. And if you want to debate her, you can go on Twitter.”
You can indeed go on Twitter and debate her; over one two-month period, Rowling 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" she was involved in the show. She's pretty focused on this.
In fact, she recently responded to that open letter on Twitter, accusing the signatories of only "pretending to believe" in trans rights, I guess as part of some nefarious plot to hurt women, rather than because it's possible to independently believe that an incredibly vulnerable minority group deserve the same level of respect and safety as anyone else.
J.K. Rowling wouldn't fire Harry Potter star for supporting trans people even if she had the power to do so
Harry Potter is a huge franchise and this show is poised to be a huge deal, and unless Rowling suddenly alters her worldview, I see many more flare-ups like this happening as we approach the premiere sometime next year. And I expect them to get bigger and uglier.
That said, Rowling herself admitted in another tweet that she doesn't "have the power to sack an actor from the series and I wouldn’t exercise it if I did." So some of those coming flare-ups will be taking place to the side of the show, but I don't see any way they won't become part of the discourse regardless.
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.