John Lithgow defends JK Rowling amid backlash from Harry Potter fans over trans debate after landing Dumbledore role

Daily Mail​

28-04-2025

Harry Potter star John Lithgow is standing firmly by his decision to accept a role in the upcoming HBO series amid backlash from fans.
It was announced earlier this year that the 79-year-old actor is set to play Professor Albus Dumbledore in the new drama, which is based on the books by J.K. Rowling and due for release in 2026.
Following the news of his role, Lithgow has received an outpouring of messages urging him to reconsider being a part of the series because of Rowling's controversial views on transgender people.
In a recent interview, however, Lithgow has addressed the furor and insisted that he isn't going to back away from the job.
Before he signed the contract, Lithgow revealed that 'a very good friend who is the mother of a trans child' wrote to him 'an open letter to John Lithgow: Please walk away from Harry Potter.'
'That was the canary in the coalmine,' he added.
'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.'
Speaking to The Times of London, Lithgow said he 'absolutely' didn't foresee getting so much hate from the author's many critics.
But when asked by the publication if the backlash has made him reconsider joining the cast, he replied, 'Oh, heavens no.'
Rowling has made headlines for her vocal 'TERF' views in recent years.
Last week, the author sparked global upset after she celebrated the UK Supreme Court's landmark judgment that trans women are not legally women.
Justices in London ruled last that in the 2010 Equality Act, the definition of the term 'women' relates only to biological women, and Rowling reportedly helped fund the campaign group which brought the case.
Lithgow previously addressed his new role in an interview with Screen Rant.
'I just got the phone call up at the Sundance Film Festival, and it was not an easy decision because it's going to define me for the last chapter of my life. I'm afraid,' he told the publication.
'But I'm very excited. Some wonderful people are turning their attention back to Harry Potter.
'That's why it's been such a hard decision. I'll be about 87 years old at the wrap party, but I've said yes.'
Dumbledore, the fictional headmaster of Hogwarts and a mentor to the title character, has become one of the most-beloved characters among fans of Rowling's original books and the film series.
In the Harry Potter films, Dumbledore was first played by Richard Harris, before Michael Gambon took over the role.
Lithgow — who has been nominated for back-to-back Best Supporting Actor Academy Awards for The World According to Garp and Terms of Endearment — recently received a fresh round of critical acclaim for his major role in the Oscar hopeful Conclave.
Though Lithgow is an American, which would be a departure for the series after the original films featured an almost exclusively UK-based cast, Dumbledore wouldn't be his first British character.
Lithgow nabbed his sixth and most recent Emmy Award for playing former Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Netflix's hit drama The Crown.
More recently, Lithgow has been portraying the writer Roald Dahl on stage in London in the play Giant, which explores the writer's infamous antisemitism.