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HBO Working Closely with J.K. Rowling on New 'Harry Potter' Series, but Fandom is Fracturing
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 3 MIN.
HBO says that J.K. Rowling's anti-trans views "have not affected" work on a TV series retelling of the "Harry Potter" books, but the fandom of the magical world she created faces deep divisions.
"HBO chief Casey Bloys told reporters at a press event on Nov. 12 that Rowling was 'very, very involved in the process selecting the writer and the director,' and her anti-trans statements 'haven't affected the casting or hiring of writers or productions staff' for the show," Variety reported, before adding that, according to a HBO spokesperson, Rowling's "contribution has been invaluable."
It's an irony (unintentional, one assumes) that HBO issued its statement on National Trans Day of Remembrance.
The narrative isn't quite so glossy among the "Harry Potter" fandom, Variety relayed, thanks in large part to LGBTQ+ people's attraction to the fantasy franchise and the way that Rowling's ongoing attacks on trans people have been dampening queer fans' enchantment.
Those attacks – which started in 2020 – have consistently dismissed trans people's main point, which is that however others might view them, they alone know their gender identity, and it might not match up to the expectations others project onto them. Rowling's posts include the claim that being transgender amounts to "little more than a person's subjective feelings, or (more accurately) their claim to feel those feelings," as Variety quoted Rowling having posted last month.
The announcement of the new series served as "the climax of Warner Bros. Discovery's presentation to press and investors on April 12 [2023] to tout the combination of HBO Max and Discovery+ into a new service dubbed simply Max," Variety detailed in a story last year.
Inevitably, questions came up about Rowling's views.
"The author, who will be an executive producer on the series, has become an increasingly controversial figure for repeatedly sharing views that trans women are not women, and trans men are not men," Variety noted at the time.
In the more recent article, the entertainment news magazine quoted "The Unofficial Harry Potter Companion" author Kat Miller saying, "The fandom of 10 years ago was like a utopia," whereas today, Miller added, that fandom "definitely has fractured, and I think that is mostly because of her [Rowling]."
"There are just too many political things that are interfering with the enthusiasm being at 100%," Miller added.
"Every time we sit down to have a fun conversation about Harry Potter," author and podcaster Melissa Anelli of the "Potter" fansite The Leaky Cauldron told Variety, "the conversation becomes angry and depressing, and so we end up not publishing."
Rowling's attacks on trans people, Anelli added, has "made it less pure and exciting and fun the way it used to be. All of that now has this layer of, 'Right, but the person at the center of it all believes a certain faction of the population isn't real.'"
Rowling was the subject of a multi-part podcast, "The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling," in which the author stated that she had been "profoundly" misunderstood by those who condemned her comments.
But Rowling also appeared to go out of her way to court controversy when she purported to be taking a stand against a Scottish law against hate speech, declaring on X last spring that "Scottish lawmakers seem to have placed higher value on the feelings of men performing their idea of femaleness, however misogynistically or opportunistically, than on the rights and freedoms of actual women and girls."
In the same post, Rowling essentially dared authorities to arrest her for her posts on the subject. (Authorities said her posts did not violate the law.)
Rowling called out 10 trans women by name, dropping in several who she said were sex offenders along with a number of high-profile trans individuals of note, such as UK delegate to the UN Katie Neeves, rape crisis center leader Mridul Wadhwa, and model Munrow Bergdorf.
What's your view? Has Rowling muddled, and muggled, the magic? Or will a longer-form adaptation of the beloved books succeed?
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
