Actor John Lithgow says he ignored a request from a friend with a transgender child not to take a major role in the Harry Potter TV series over JK Rowling’s views.
Lithgow, who will play Dumbledore in the upcoming HBO show, said ‘a very good friend’ sent him a text with a link to an article entitled: ‘An open letter to John Lithgow: Please walk away from Harry Potter.’
It was likely a link to a piece by writer Danika Ellis published on a website called Book Riot.
Ellis claimed Lithgow’s casting would ‘lend credence’ to the adaptation and ‘help grow JK Rowling’s platform to further her crusade against transgender rights.’
Lithgow told The Times that he received the link to the op-ed before he signed his contract.
Asked if it had deterred him from signing on to play the wizard headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he replied: ‘Oh heavens, no!’
He did not identify the friend who sent it or elaborate on whether their relationship had survived the disagreement.
Rowling has angered many in the transgender community with her insistence that trans women should be banned from some female-only spaces.
But her stance has also attracted widespread support – and Lithgow suggested it hadn’t affected his admiration for the 59-year-old English author.
John Lithgow is standing by his decision to star in the Harry Potter series despite backlash
The actor has received an outpouring of messages urging him to reconsider being a part of the series because of author J.K. Rowling’s controversial views on transgender people
‘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.’
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 views on trans rights in recent years and has been labeled a ‘terf’ (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) by some critics.
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, played by Michael Gambon in the final six of eight Harry Potter films, is the headmaster of the wizarding school Hogwarts and a mentor to the title character
Rowling (pictured with Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson in 2001) has made headlines for her vocal views on trans rights in recent years
Lithgow recently received a fresh round of critical acclaim for his major role in the Oscar nominated film Conclave
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.
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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.