HBO Max’s upcoming “Harry Potter” TV reboot could have lost its Albus Dumbledore.
John Lithgow, who plays the famed Hogwarts headmaster in the new series, reportedly thought about quitting the show due to the backlash he received after his casting was announced over J.K. Rowling’s anti-trans comments.
In a new interview with The New York Times, Lithgow said that while he didn’t agree with Rowling’s views on transgender issues, he thought the “Harry Potter” books themselves were “clearly on the side of the angels, against intolerance and bigotry.”
But the Times noted that having been “stung” by the sharp online reaction, Lithgow “considered quitting the series but decided not to.” That said, Lithgow acknowledged the subject of Rowling would come up “in every interview I will ever do for the rest of my life.”
In the recent film “Jimpa,” Lithgow plays the grandfather to a trans teenager played by Aud Mason-Hyde, who is trans. In an interview with Out magazine, Mason-Hyde called Lithgow “such a beautiful human to make work wit,” but added that they considered Lithgow’s decision to join “Harry Potter” “disconcerting,” adding that “there’s an element of this that feels vaguely hurtful.”
Lithgow isn’t the only new arrival into the Wizarding World to distance themselves from the beliefs of its controversial creator. Paapa Essiedu, who is playing Severus Snape in the series, was one of hundreds of industry names to sign an open letter calling for industry action on trans rights and demanding that institutions such as BAFTA, BBC, BFI and Channel 4 commit to protecting and including trans people.
The letter came just weeks after the hugely contentious U.K. Supreme Court ruling prohibiting trans women from being legally recognized as women, a decision that was celebrated on social media by Rowling.
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