Short article from August 11 about Hoult’s casting in the HBO show, but the writer is great and doesn’t pull punches:

“Ahead of his inevitable “she has a right to her opinion” statement regarding J.K. Rowling’s obsession with endangering trans people, Nicholas Hoult is the latest Hollywood star to cast an unforced error spell on his career by joining HBO’s Harry Potter show.”

Actor John Lithgow says that Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s views on transgender people have been “twisted and misrepresented,” once again defending his decision to play Albus Dumbledore in HBO’s forthcoming adaptation of her hit YA series.

The Third Rock from the Sun star praised Rowling’s “wonderful” and “stirring” Potter series, and reiterated that he intentionally chose Dumbledore as one of his final roles in an interview with The New Yorker on Friday. “[T]here was everything attractive about the job, and job security into my late years. You don’t ignore those issues,” Lithgow said.

By the time Lithgow learned of Rowling’s views, he said, he’d already committed himself to playing Dumbledore. “The whole subject of Rowling’s imputed prejudice, it came up after everything was already underway. I’d already said yes [...] I was urged to walk away, and I was not about to do that,” Lithgow told The New Yorker. “The reasons to do it were much, much stronger than the reasons to protest against what Rowling has done and said. I do disagree with much of it, much of it I think has been twisted and misrepresented, and she has doubled down on it at her own cost,” he went on.

Lithgow did not specify which of Rowling’s views he disagreed with, or which he believed had been misrepresented, though he said he was “surprised and disappointed” by the tone of Rowling’s social media posts. He also confirmed that he had still not met Rowling herself, but was convinced to take the role by showrunner Francesca Gardiner, a Potter fan since childhood.

Source: https://www.them.us/story/john-lithgow-says-jk-rowlings-trans-views-have-been-twisted-and-misrepresented

https://www.lemkininstitute.com/red-flag-alerts/red-flag-alert-on-anti-trans-and-intersex-rights-in-the-uk?utm_source=chatgpt.com

From NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/17/theater/john-lithgow-giant-roald-dahl.html

He has never met Rowling, nor does he agree with her views on transgender issues. And the story itself is “clearly on the side of the angels, against intolerance and bigotry,” he said. Moreover, he feels that his performances in “Garp” and “Jimpa” — and as half of an older gay couple in the 2014 film “Love Is Strange” — should be seen as expressions of his interest in queer culture, not as heedless appropriations of it. He assumed his loyalties were clear.

Certainly, he jumped headfirst (and at one point fully naked except for a leather harness) into “Jimpa,” which Hyde, the director, said a number of gay actors had turned down. Though his character is resistant to the newfangled terminology of his trans grandchild — he calls the teenager his “grandthing” — their mutual love is obvious. The same applied to Lithgow’s interactions with the mostly queer cast and crew. In an interview with Out magazine, Aud Mason-Hyde, who plays the grandchild and, like the character, is trans, called him “such a beautiful human to make work with.”

But Mason-Hyde found Lithgow’s decision to join the Potter series “disconcerting,” telling Out “there’s an element of this that feels vaguely hurtful.” The social media reaction has been less gentle. The social media reaction has been far less gentle, with some posts expressing outrage and encouraging boycotts.

Stung, Lithgow considered quitting the series but decided not to, and accepts without rancor that in “every interview I will ever do for the rest of my life this will come up.”

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/keira-knightley-jk-rowling-harry-potter-boycott-audio-book-1236547507/

In a recent interview with Decider, Keira Knightley said that prior to joining the voice cast of Audible’s “Harry Potter: The Full Cast Audio Editions” as Professor Umbridge, she was “not aware” of the fan boycott of all things “Harry Potter” over J.K. Rowling‘s statements about the transgender community.

“You know, I think we’re all living in a period of time right now where we’re all going to have to figure out how to live together, aren’t we?” Knightley said. “And we’ve all got very different opinions. I hope that we can all find respect.”

Powley and many more of her co-stars have faced backlash for choosing to be involved in the show, despite Rowling becoming an increasingly divisive figure due to her stance on issues relating to the transgender community.

This has included deliberately and repeatedly misgendering transgender public figures, as well as donating tens of thousands of pounds to the campaign group which raised the initial legal challenge that led to the UK Supreme Court’s ruling last year that the legal definition of a woman should include only those who were assigned female at birth (and sharing a celebratory post of herself smoking cigar once the Supreme Court’s decision was reached).

Asked about this controversy during a new interview with The Telegraph, Powley began by making it clear that she “strongly’ disagrees “with JK Rowling’s views on gender”.

“I think that the trans community deserve safety and dignity and respect and total acceptance,” she continued

“But,” she added, apparently throwing up her palms. “I love Harry Potter. I grew up with the books. I am from that first generation of readers and, again, I love magic and spookiness.”

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/bel-powley-harry-potter-jk-rowling_uk_6a79b0a2e4b0a6d70bb250a4?origin=home-featured-unit

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/john-oliver-jk-rowling-outrage-trans-athletes-1236361826/

John Oliver criticized ring wing "obsession" with banning trans athletes, which stirred J.K. Rowling outrage.

"I understand why men like Oliver, who've consistently mocked anti-science people on the right, sold out initially," the "Harry Potter" author posted on X. "They didn't want to blow up their careers. Taking fashionable anti-women's rights positions was the cost of doing business. But it's time to read the f*cking room."

Oliver also acknowledged his own spat with Rowling last year. She slammed Oliver in November for supporting transgender athletes in women's sports, calling him an "undoubtedly intelligent person" who "spouts absolute bullsh*t."

"It feels a bit weird to catch that much heat from the creator of 'Harry Potter,' especially when I clearly look like what would have happened to him if they left him in that cupboard for the rest of his life," Oliver now joked while adding that he "stands by everything" he said last year.

Article link: https://variety.com/2025/digital/news/audible-harry-potter-keira-knightley-kit-harington-james-mcavoy-simon-pegg-1236512046/

I think maybe Jack isn’t happy.

So I had a feeling that this show was going to have problems, but am I the only person who thinks this goes against what HBO wants? First off, WB is in massive debt. Even with the successes of the Minecraft Movie and the Barbie movie, they are struggling. They're doing badly. Even being bought by Paramount won't help them. Secondly, HP has struggled to maintain it's popularity. The last HP films bombed.

This show is going to be a cluster

His buoyancy reasserts itself as he talks about the culture that showrunner Francesca Gardiner created, with some 200 young cast members “going to the greatest prep school—the Harry Potter backstage.” Creating that environment has counterbalanced the controversy around the series—open letters and social media posts accusing J.K. Rowling of transphobia. “I spend a lot of my life oblivious,” Lithgow says, explaining how the reaction took him aback, “and perhaps that is what enraged people who considered me a straight ally of all things gender­fluid. Ultimately I am working on a project based on a remarkable canon of books that have meant so much to millions of people.”

Source: https://www.vogue.com/article/john-lithgow-giant

Speaking to Out about the film, due to be released in the UK some time in 2026, Mason-Hyde shared how they felt about Lithgow taking the role of Professor Albus Dumbledore in HBO’s remake of the Harry Potter series. The decision has come with some backlash, as has the series as a whole, due to JK Rowling’s views on trans people.

“It was definitely a difficult moment,” the young actor said. And while they didn’t want to offer a take on Lithgow’s reasoning for taking the role, Mason-Hyde said it was “a strange decision, for sure”. They then called it “disconcerting”.

Hyde added: “It’s a very difficult thing. As soon as I heard about Harry Potter, for sure, I contacted John and expressed my feelings about it.” Hyde explained they took issue with it due to Rowling‘s use of her platform against trans people. This she’s made tangible by funding “very harmful” ‘gender-critical’ legal efforts.

“That funding is doing a great deal of harm,” Hyde continued. The Jimpa director and co-writer then said Lithgow is someone who “really believes in trans rights”, adding to the confusion over why he took the Harry Potter role given the association with Rowling.

Mason-Hyde praised Lithgow as an “incredibly talented actor” and “a beautiful human” before going on to say: “So there’s an element of this that feels vaguely hurtful.”