One of the actors of HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter TV series says he’s surprised at the amount of backlash he’s been copping since joining the cast.
The backlash is centred around JK Rowling’s anti-trans views.
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79-year-old Hollywood star John Lithgow, playing Dumbledore, says he didn’t expect to get as much hate from the author’s critics as he did.
Lithgow told the Times of London that the backlash has never made him reconsider the series. He said the eight-year commitment will probably be his last major role.
“No one complained when I agreed to play Dahl, but I’ve received so many messages about JK Rowling. Isn’t that odd?” Lithgow said.
Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson have publicly spoken out against JK Rowling’s anti-trans views.
When the UK Court ruled the term ‘woman’ only referred to a ‘biological’ woman in the Equality Act, Rowling posted a pic of her smoking a cigar.
Rowling is one of the executive producers of the Harry Potter adaptation. HBO CEO Casey Bloys confirmed that Rowling has “been fairly involved” in the making of the show.
The series has already cast Paapa Essiedu as Snape, Janet McTeer as McGonagall, and Nick Frost as Hagrid.
However, they haven’t yet announced who will be Harry, Ron and Hermione.
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