John Lithgow slams JK Rowling’s trans views as he reveals she's ‘not really involved’ in Harry Potter series

John Lithgow has slammed JK Rowling’s views on the trans community and revealed she’s “not really involved” in the new Harry Potter series.

In May, HBO officially cast Harry, Ron and Hermione for the upcoming remake.

Dominic McLaughlin will play Harry Potter, Arabella Stanton has been cast as Hermione Granger, and Alastair Stout will portray Ron Weasley in the much-anticipated series.

They will combine forces with John Lithgow as Professor Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Professor McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Professor Snape, Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid, Paul Whitehouse as Argus Filch and Luke Thallon as Quirinus Quirrell.

After it was announced that John Lithgow would be taking on the role last October, he was quickly met by backlash from his fans, who called on him to walk away from the project over JK Rowling’s views on trans rights.

The author, who wrote the Wizard series in the 1990s, was faced with backlash after she made a statement regarding the “huge explosion in young women wishing to transition.”

The author acknowledged that she “respected every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic,” but she had previously come under fire for publicly endorsing transphobic comments in 2017 and 2018.

In response, John admitted to Variety that the decision to join the show was “a hard one.”

He told Variety that while he takes the matter of Rowling’s anti-trans sentiments “very seriously”, he was “absolutely ready for conflicts of opinion” and “understands” that not everyone will embrace his choice.

John said: “She has created this amazing canon for young people, and it has jumped into the consciousness of the society, it’s about good versus evil, kindness versus cruelty.”

“I find her views ironic and inexplicable. It upsets me when people are opposed to me having anything to do with this. But in “Potter” canon, you see no trace of transphobic sensitivity.”

The actor revealed that he has never met the author, and despite her contributions to the new series, she was “not really involved in its production.”

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