{"id":665866,"date":"2025-04-28T06:50:23","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T03:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/john-lithgow-says-he-was-surprised-by-backlash-over-joining-harry-potter-series\/"},"modified":"2025-04-28T06:50:23","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T03:50:23","slug":"john-lithgow-says-he-was-surprised-by-backlash-over-joining-harry-potter-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/john-lithgow-says-he-was-surprised-by-backlash-over-joining-harry-potter-series\/","title":{"rendered":"John Lithgow Says He Was Surprised by Backlash Over Joining \u2018Harry Potter\u2019 Series"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tJohn Lithgow is brushing aside concerns about his playing Albus Dumbledore in HBO\u2018s upcoming Harry Potter<\/em> series<\/a> despite anti-trans rhetoric made by author J.K. Rowling, who also serves as an executive producer on the show.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking with U.K. news<\/a>paper The Times,<\/em> <\/a>Lithgow said he has received a lot of feedback from friends and fans suggesting he shouldn\u2019t have taken the role because of Rowling\u2019s comments. He said he received a text from a friend who had sent him a link to an article titled \u201cAn Open Letter to John Lithgow: Please Walk Away From Harry Potter<\/em>.\u201d Before he had signed on for the role, he received another text from \u201ca very good friend who is the mother of a trans child, and that was the canary in the coal mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked if he expected the criticism, Lithgow replied: \u201cNo, absolutely not. Of course, it was a big decision because it\u2019s probably the last major role I\u2019ll play. It\u2019s an eight-year commitment so I was just thinking about mortality and that this is a very good winding-down role.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHe continued: \u201cI thought, why is this a factor at all? I wonder how J.K. Rowling has absorbed it. I suppose at a certain point I\u2019ll meet her and I\u2019m curious to talk to her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked if the criticism had discouraged him, he replied: \u201cOh, heavens no.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLithgow said his only concern was actually whether the Harry Potter<\/em> fanbase would accept an American playing Dumbledore, who is British.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe added that he\u2019s confused about why there\u2019s been such criticism about this, but none when he agreed to play author Roald Dahl, whose family has publicly apologized for his antisemitism, in the West End play Giant<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNo one complained when I agreed to play Dahl, but I\u2019ve received so many messages about J.K. Rowling,\u201d he said. \u201cIsn\u2019t that odd?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen the Harry Potter<\/em> series was announced in April 2023, the reaction was immedia<\/a>te, with outrage over Rowling\u2019s involvement.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cJ.K. is an executive producer, and her insights will be helpful,\u201d Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and Max content, said at the time. \u201cWe are in the Harry Potter<\/em> business. The TV show is new and exciting, but we\u2019ve been in the Harry Potter<\/em> business for 20 years; this isn\u2019t a new decision. We\u2019re comfortable being in the Potter<\/em> business. J.K. is a very online conversation. \u2026 It\u2019s very nuanced and complicated and not something we\u2019re going to get into. Our priority is what\u2019s onscreen. The Harry Potter <\/em>story is incredibly affirmative and positive about love and acceptance, and that\u2019s our priority, what\u2019s on the screen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRowling has made numerous comments about her feelings on transgender women in particular, most recently app<\/a>lauding a U.K. court decision to define women as those born biologically female. She also has argued that transgender athletes should not be allowed to take part in female-driven sports.<\/p>\n

\n\tCelebrities including John Oliver and Pedro Pascal have criticized Rowling for her comments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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John Lithgow is brushing aside concerns about his playing Albus Dumbledore in HBO\u2018s upcoming Harry Potter series despite anti-trans rhetoric made by author J.K. Rowling, who also serves as an executive producer on the show. Speaking with U.K. newspaper The Times, Lithgow said he has received a lot of feedback from friends and fans suggesting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":665867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-2195563371.jpg?crop=0px%2C3px%2C1296px%2C725px&resize=1440%2C810","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[10973,1524,30047,67384,13246],"class_list":["post-665866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-harry-potter","tag-hbo","tag-j-k-rowling","tag-john-lithgow","tag-max"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}