I won’t forgive any actor who joins the Harry Potter TV series

Those three little words from John Lithgow confirming his intention to play Albus Dumbledore in the upcoming Harry Potter TV show made me lose all respect for him.

The 79-year-old actor – known for his roles in 3rd Rock From the Sun, The Crown, and Conclave – added to ScreenRant: ‘I’m very excited. Some wonderful people are turning their attention back to Harry Potter.’

Although HBO has since clarified that the deal is still yet to be ‘finalised’, I’m resolute with my opinion: I won’t forgive any actor who joins this production.

This is because signing on to the Harry Potter TV series (or any other Potter project) is an endorsement of its creator – JK Rowling – and what I consider to be her bigoted and transphobic views. While she denies this, when it comes to Rowling, I can no longer blindly pretend it’s possible to separate the art from the artist.

Like most people my age (I’m 27), I was a huge Harry Potter fan as a kid and well into my late teens. I devoured all of the films, read all of the books fervently, and held onto my first editions as if my life depended on it.

In fact, I was completely besotted with this fantasy world until my early 20s.

Then the worst happened. A few years ago, Rowling launched what I can only describe as a tirade against a community I care about – transgender people.

She insists that she is taking a stand for women’s rights. However, I believe she spouts hate and attacks those who disagree with her with a laser focus on a minority who make up around 0.5% of the British population (by comparison, ginger people make up about 10%).

In her own words, Rowling believes trans people ‘will end up wreaking more harm than lobotomies’ on kids struggling with their gender identity.

So, I have made the decision that JK Rowling will not get a single penny more from me.

As part of my own rules, I could still watch my DVDs without fattening up her bank accounts – and I have many times, particularly at Christmas. Now it seems like this quiet boycotting is no longer enough.

In April 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of HBO and Max, first announced the reboot series, and I felt exhausted. Yet another unnecessary reboot with the added insult of bolstering Rowling’s bank account.

With John Lithgow’s (admittedly premature) revelation this week, I believe that it sets a worrying tone for future announcements for a show that simply shouldn’t exist.

Unlike some fans, I don’t take issue with an American actor playing Dumbledore and certainly not one of his calibre – he is a multiple-award winner, including six Emmys and two Golden Globes.

But in my mind, by taking on this role, Lithgow is, at the very least, signalling that he does not care about what I consider to be her constant attacks on trans women. And at the worst, he is co-signing her beliefs.

That’s why I believe that any actor who puts their name to this show (child actors not included) is essentially saying the lives of trans people matter less to them than a paycheque.

His decision to accept the role is even more galling because he played a trans woman in the 1982 film The World According to Garp. He even received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for the role (losing to Louis Gossett Jr).

While the portrayal might not be up to today’s standards, at the time, Lithgow’s character Roberta Muldoon gave much-needed visibility to trans people – without criticism or judgment. He’s since called it ‘revolutionary’.

But Lithgow isn’t the only one being eyed up for the new TV series. There are names floating around, like I May Destroy You’s Paapa Essiedu for Snape, Ted Lasso’s Brett Goldstein for Hagrid, or Shadow and Bone’s Ben Barnes for Sirius Black.

These actors need to be much more careful because – while Lithgow’s involvement might ‘define’ him for the ‘last chapter’ of his life – they are still in their prime. So in 10 years (or whenever this project runs out of steam), that paycheque might not be worth losing their fanbase, as fans like me are already planning to boycott. It feels like a shaky career move for any actor.

At the end of the day, this is yet another reboot with very little purpose other than attempting to elongate the original films’ lifespan by waving nostalgia in our faces. In fact, I believe HBO saw a chance to make money and that’s all this is.

Let’s stop pretending there’s any purpose other than lining their – and Rowling’s – pockets.

And let’s make it incredibly clear; as the owner of the intellectual property and an executive producer, she will profit greatly from this show. Early reports indicated this could be to the tune of £100,000,000.

And where is she choosing to spend her money? Last year, Rowling donated £70,000 to For Women Scotland – a group attempting to contest whether transgender women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) had the same legal rights as women under the Equality Act 2010.

I believe that they do, but Rowling pledged the massive sum of money and told the group: ‘Thank you for all your hard work and perseverance’.

Many people cite separating the art from the artist in defence of still watching Harry Potter. But at this point, I believe you cannot morally object to Rowling’s views and engage in something that she directly profits from.

So to John Lithgow – and any other established actor who signs on to this new Harry Potter TV show – I ask this: Have you no pride in your work or sense of allyship?

Let Harry Potter finally die and save us all the embarrassment of watching it take the actors’ legacies down with it.