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John Lithgow isn't put off from playing Dumbledore in HBO's Harry Potter series due to J.K. Rowling's anti-rhetoric, despite a "very good friend" and mother of a trans child asking him to walk away
Lithgow says that the role is a good "winding-down" role for him at the end of his career and that he was caught off-guard by the controversy around Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling
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It is a tough time to have your name attached to anything Harry Potter-related. The franchise remains closely tied to J.K. Rowling, the once-beloved author who has spent the last several years campaigning against trans rights in the UK and abroad. While many of us who follow Harry Potter closely are well aware of the controversy involving its creator, one person seems to have been caught off-guard. John Lithgow, who has been cast as Dumbledore in the upcoming Harry Potter series, says he isn’t put off by Rowling’s views. In fact, he’s curious to meet her.
John Lithgow made the comments during an interview over the weekend, saying that he was surprised at the backlash he has received since being cast as Dumbledore in the upcoming HBO Harry Potter series. Specifically, he says that he received a text from a friend who sent him a link to an article asking him to walk away from the role. Before he signed on to show, he got a separate text from a “very good friend who is the mother of a trans child, and that was the canary in the coal mine.”
Despite this, Lithgow says he somehow didn’t expect the criticism he has received, which tells us that he doesn’t understand the purpose of taking a canary into a coal mine. Instead, he saw this as a good role to end his long and storied career with. “Of course, it was a big decision because it’s probably the last major role I’ll play. It’s an eight-year commitment so I was just thinking about mortality and that this is a very good winding-down role.”
When asked about the controversy around J.K. Rowling’s long campaign against trans people, Lithgow didn’t seem to think it was a big deal. “I thought, why is this a factor at all? I wonder how J.K. Rowling has absorbed it. I suppose at a certain point I’ll meet her and I’m curious to talk to her.” He added that the criticism he’s received won’t discourage him from being on the show. He brought up his role as famous children’s author and antisemite Roald Dahl in a West End play as a counter.
“No one complained when I agreed to play Dahl, but I’ve received so many messages about J.K. Rowling. Isn’t that odd?”
This seems like an attempt to paint those who try to hold J.K. Rowling to account for her actions as sexist, but we think we can clarify things here for John Lithgow. The difference is that Roald Dahl is very, very dead and unable to profit off of his work being promoted through a play or any adaptations being made, while J.K. Rowling is alive, an executive producer in the Harry Potter show, and still receiving royalty checks from the books. That’s the difference, John.
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