Pankiw, who directed a 2023 installment of Charlie Brooker\u2019s dystopian hit, shared a post on Instagram that appeared to show a text conversation she had with her agent in which she categorically distanced herself from the show, declaring: \u201cIt is simply this easy to say no to funding transphobia<\/a>.\u201d Rowling declined to comment.<\/p>\n The director was alluding to the outspoken views of author JK Rowling<\/a>, who is serving as an executive producer on HBO<\/a> Max\u2019s high-profile project. In recent years, Rowling has come under fire for various comments about gender ideology, with many, including stars of the Harry Potter<\/a> films, accusing her of transphobia, which she denies. <\/p>\n In the image shared by Pankiw, a person believed to be her agent wrote: \u201cI have an instinct on the answer, but I feel compelled to ask. Harry Potter? Hard no?\u201d<\/p>\n Pankiw replied: \u201cAbsolutely f***ing not! lol\u2026 (But thank you for asking),\u201d with her agent responding: \u201cOf course :)\u2026 I assumed as much\u2026 (And agree).\u201d She shared the screenshot with the caption: You can do it too!\u201d and praised Loki director Kate Herron for turning down the show twice.<\/p>\n In response to the original post, Herron said: \u201cThey’ve asked me twice and I\u2019ve had to explain my answer is never going to change from no.\u201d<\/p>\n Rowling first made her stance on transgender women public in December 2019 when she tweeted in support of researcher Maya Forstater<\/a>, who was fired from her job at a think-tank over a series of tweets questioning government plans to allow people to self-identify as another gender<\/a>.<\/p>\n She later criticised the use of the term \u201cpeople who menstruate\u201d to include transgender and non-binary people, hit out at the idea that a person\u2019s biological sex is not real and claimed that young people with mental health problems are \u201cbeing shunted towards hormones and surgery\u201d.<\/p>\n After being labelled a TERF \u2013 which stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist and is a label Rowling takes issue with \u2013 she published an essay titled \u201cTERF WARs\u201d, in which she outlined five reasons to be \u201cworried about the new trans activism\u201d.<\/p>\n The writer\u2019s divisive comments have sparked a backlash from many Harry Potter fans, with some even covering up their Hogwarts-related tattoos while many are calling for a boycott of the new series, which is expected to debut this December. <\/p>\n The actors who\u2019ve accepted roles have faced scrutiny \u2013 with many distancing themselves from Rowling’s views. Paapa Essideu, who is playing potions professor Severus Snape, last year signed an open letter in support of trans rights in the UK. <\/p>\n More recently, Bel Powley, who will star as Harry\u2019s muggle aunt, Petunia Dursley, said in an interview: \u201cI strongly disagree with JK Rowling<\/a>\u2019s views on gender. I think that the trans community deserve safety and dignity and respect and total acceptance.<\/p>\n \u201cBut 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Other actors set to appear in the series<\/a> include John Lithgow, Katherine Parkinson, Nick Frost and the recently announced Nicholas Hoult<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":813530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,206],"class_list":["post-813529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813529","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=813529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/813530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Arabella](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/arabella-stanton-dominic-mclaughlin-and-alastair-stout.jpg\")
Arabella Stanton, Dominic McLaughlin and Alastair Stout are heading up new \u2018Harry Potter\u2019 series \u2013 but not everyone wants to be involved (HBO)<\/p>\n![\"Harry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/c12a0bd3a4642d591e4e679d49dc6e35Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzg1NjU1NTk0-2.28196266.jpg\")
Harry Potter author JK Rowling (PA Archive)<\/p>\n