J.K. Rowling had a sneak peek at the upcoming HBO Harry Potter series, and she’s letting fans know what she thinks about the show.
“I read the first two episodes of the forthcoming HBO Harry Potter series and they are SO, So, SO GOOD!” Rowling, 59, shared via X on Saturday, June 21.
During Warner Bros. Discovery presentation in April 2023, the network revealed they were moving forward with a TV reboot of the writer’s iconic novels and subsequent films for their streaming service, Max, with a “decade-long series” that will feature a whole new cast.
“Max’s commitment to preserving the integrity of my books is important to me, and I’m looking forward to being part of this new adaptation which will allow for a degree of depth and detail only afforded by a long form television series,” Rowling, an executive producer on the project,” said in a statement at the time.
On Saturday, Rowling clarified via X that she is not a writer on the show, telling one fan that she has “worked closely with the extremely talented writers” on the series.
Despite her success with the franchise, Rowling has found herself in hot water over the years due to her continued transphobic comments. Stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint — who portrayed Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, respectively, in all eight Potter films — have spoken out against her remarks.
“I firmly stand with the trans community,” Grint said in a statement to Us Weekly in June 2020. “Trans women are women. Trans men are men. We should all be entitled to live with love and without judgment.”
While the series will feature a whole new cast, Rowling’s stance on trans rights and trans athletes has already seemingly impacted the upcoming series after Paapa Essiedu, who will play Professor Severus Snap in the upcoming series, signed an open letter to the United Kingdom’s entertainment industry in support of the trans community.
The petition, signed by over 400 others including Eddie Redmayne and Katie Leung, urged the industry to publicly commit to protecting trans people after the U.K. Supreme Court ruled that trans women should not be recognized as women — a ruling Rowling openly supported and celebrated.
Rowling seemingly referred to the petition and those who signed it in a post shared via X, though she did not name Essiedu.
“Some argue that signatories of these sorts of letters are motivated by fear: fear for their careers, of course, but also fear of their co-religionists, who include angry, narcissistic men who threaten and sometimes enact violence on non-believers; back-stabbing colleagues ever ready to report wrongthink,” Rowling wrote at the time.
After fans started speculating that Rowling would end up firing Essiedu, she took to social media to clear up what she can, and cannot, do when it comes to the show.
“I don’t have the power to sack an actor from the series and I wouldn’t exercise it if I did. I don’t believe in taking away people’s jobs or livelihoods because they hold legally protected beliefs that differ from mine,” she wrote.
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