{"id":564311,"date":"2026-04-04T15:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T15:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/564311\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T15:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T15:18:08","slug":"harry-potter-actor-john-lithgow-says-jk-rowlings-trans-views-have-been-twisted-and-misrepresented","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/564311\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Harry Potter’ actor John Lithgow says JK Rowling\u2019s trans views have been ‘twisted and misrepresented’"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Lithgow says JK Rowling\u2019s controversial views on the transgender community<\/a> have been \u201ctwisted and misrepresented\u201d as backlash continues to swirl around HBO\u2019s upcoming \u201cHarry Potter\u201d series.<\/p>\n

Lithgow \u2014 who is set to play Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore<\/a> in the \u201cHarry Potter and the Philosopher\u2019s Stone\u201d TV reboot \u2014\u00a0believes the reaction to Rowling\u2019s comments hasn\u2019t always been accurate, despite him disagreeing with much of what she has said.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The New Yorker Radio Hour<\/a>, the 80-year-old actor revealed he was urged to step away from the project, but \u201cI was not about do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Lithgow said JK Rowling\u2019s trans views have been \u201ctwisted and misrepresented.\u201d Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI just felt the reasons to do it were much, much stronger than the reasons to protest against what Rowling has done and said,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI do disagree with much of it. Much of it I think has been twisted and represented, and she has sort of doubled down on it at her own cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Explaining why he took on the role, Lithgow said: \u201cThere was everything attractive about the job and job security into my late years. You know, you don\u2019t ignore those issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cHarry Potter\u201d author Rowling has been outspoken on the rights of the transgender community. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole subject of Rowling\u2019s imputed prejudice, it came up sort of after everything was already underway. I\u2019d already said yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cGiant\u201d star also emphasized that the creative team \u2014 not Rowling \u2014 drew him in. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have not met her,\u201d he said, adding that showrunner Francesca Gardiner \u201cpersuaded me, she\u2019s the big reason I took it on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lithgow revealed he was urged to step away from the \u201cHarry Potter\u201d reboot, but \u201cI was not about do that.\u201d FilmMagic<\/p>\n

Still, he didn\u2019t hold back his personal reaction to the author\u2019s rhetoric, saying he has been \u201csurprised and disappointed\u201d by the tone of her social media posts.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Lithgow struck a similar note while speaking at the Rotterdam Film Festival, where he called Rowling\u2019s views \u201cironic and inexplicable\u201d while stressing the books themselves tell a very different story.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn \u2018Potter\u2019 canon, you see no trace of transphobic sensitivity,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s written this meditation of kindness and acceptance. And Dumbledore is a beautiful role.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The debate has also spread through Hollywood, with Andrew Garfield recently referring to Rowling as \u201cshe that shall remain nameless\u201d<\/a> and accusing her of supporting \u201cinhumane\u201d causes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s, like, controversial. And, like, we shouldn\u2019t be, you know, putting money in the pocket of inhumane legislation right now through she that shall remain nameless,\u201d Garfield told Hits Radio, referencing Voldemort, the \u201cHarry Potter\u201d villain known as \u201cHe-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the soul and the spirit of a lot of the essence of the themes of those films and the kids are so good,\u201d he added. \u201cWe can\u2019t throw the baby out with the bathwater, there are so many beautiful artists who worked on those films.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rowling\u2019s trans views have driven a wedge between her and several stars of the original films, including Emma Watson. WireImage<\/p>\n

Rowling\u2019s outspoken views on transgender issues have driven a wedge between the author and several stars of the original films<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last May, Rowling penned a scathing essay<\/a> when multiple \u201cHarry Potter\u201d actors signed a pro-trans open letter\u00a0after the UK Supreme Court ruled that the terms \u201cwoman\u201d and \u201csex\u201d refer strictly to a biological woman and biological sex.<\/p>\n

She described the actors \u2014 among them being Eddie Redmayne, Paapa Essiedu and Katie Leung \u2014 as \u201cback-stabbing colleagues\u201d who she said are \u201cmotivated by fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

The HBO series has already led to death threats aimed at Essiedu<\/a> after he was announced as Severus Snape, prompting heightened security around the production.<\/p>\n

Rowling has continued to champion the reboot, recently replying to a fan who praised early footage: \u201cIt\u2019s going to be incredible. I\u2019m so happy with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new \u201cHarry Potter\u201d series is expected to debut over Christmas 2026 on HBO and stream on HBO Max.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Lithgow says JK Rowling\u2019s controversial views on the transgender community have been \u201ctwisted and misrepresented\u201d as backlash…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88,9346,16829,202708,59064,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-564311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-harry-potter","10":"tag-jk-rowling","11":"tag-john-lithgow","12":"tag-transgender","13":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}