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Actor John Lithgow has reportedly considered leaving his role in the upcoming HBO series based on JK Rowling’s “Harry Potter” books due to backlash from the author’s views on gender issues.
Rowling has angered transgender activists for years with her opposition to transgender ideology and her defense of women-only spaces. The upcoming HBO series based on her popular books is expected to debut this year, and Lithgow has made it clear that he “has never met Rowling, and does not agree with her views on transgender issues,” according to the New York Times.
Lithgow, who is set to play Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore in the highly anticipated series, said the story is “clearly on the side of the angels, against intolerance and bigotry.”
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Actor John Lithgow has reportedly considered leaving his role in the upcoming HBO series based on JK Rowling’s “Harry Potter” books. (Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty Images)
The Times then elaborated on Lithgow’s “interest in queer culture,” and noted that non-binary actor Aud Mason-Hyde, his co-star in a separate project, called his decision to join the Potter series “puzzling” and “inexplicably hurtful.”
Because of this, according to the Times, Lithgow “considered quitting the series but decided against it.” In the end he chose to move forward, understanding the consequences.
“Every interview I’ll ever do in my life will come out,” Lithgow told the Times.
Fox News Digital reached out to Warner Bros., HBO’s parent company, for comment but did not immediately respond.
Lithgow previously said in an interview in April that he was shocked by the backlash he received for joining the series, saying that he had not considered Rowling’s political views before accepting the role.
ACTOR JOHN LITHGOW DEFENDS JOINING ‘HARRY POTTER’ SHOW OVER JK ROWLING’S TRANS BACKLASH.
“Harry Potter” author JK Rowling has angered activists for years with her outspoken opposition to transgender ideas and her defense of women-only spaces. (SOPA/Getty Images)
“It was a big decision because it’s probably the last big role I’m going to play. It’s an eight-year commitment, so I was just thinking about death and that this is a good role to put off,” Lithgow said.
He previously reiterated that the criticism was “very serious” and described Rowling’s comments as “ridiculous” given the themes of her fantasy series.
“People young and old love ‘Harry Potter’ and the ‘Harry Potter’ stories,” Lithgow said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s a lot about acceptance. It’s about good versus evil. It’s about kindness versus cruelty. It’s deeply felt.”
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John Lithgow is set to play Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
He continued, “I find it amazing and mysterious that Rowling has expressed such ideas. I have read about them, and I have never met her. She is not really involved in this production at all. People are remaking ‘Harry Potter’ and turning it into a movie. an eight-year TV series they’re amazing … These are the people I really want to work with.”
Lithgow added that there was “no trace of transphobic sensitivity” in the story and said he was upset to hear that some critics were against his involvement in the project.
Lithgow has expressed liberal views in the past and starred in a 2019 drama about former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia, called “The Investigation: The Quest for the Truth in Ten Acts.”
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Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.
