Disagree with J.K. Rowling's Anti-Trans Stance? Take it to Twitter, Says Exec at HBO, Where New 'Harry Potter' Series Will Air

"Harry Potter" fans can tune in to the upcoming series adaptation without worry that the magic will be tainted: The show "'is not secretly being infused with" Rowling's anti-trans views, promises HBO content chief Casey Bloys, Variety reported.

Bloys appeared on Matthew Belloni's podcast "The Town," where he addressed the cabler's longtime relationship with Rowling, saying, "The decision to be in business with J.K. Rowling is not new for us" – a reference "to the mega-successful 'Harry Potter' film franchise that spawned eight movies, grossed $7.7 billion worldwide and launched spinoffs, video games and more," Variety detailed.

As to Rowling's transphobic (and, more recently, ace-phobic) broadsides, "It's pretty clear that those are her personal, political views. She's entitled to them," Bloys said.

"'Harry Potter' is not secretly being infused with anything," the exec went on to add. "And if you want to debate her, you can go on Twitter."

Plenty do just that, as Rowling "uses social media to regularly troll her critics and take aim at public figures (such as slamming John Oliver's comments on trans athletes)," the magazine noted.

But, of course, the debate spills out of the social media sphere and into the real world. "Both the network and the new 'Harry Potter' cast have received backlash for getting into business with Rowling," Variety backgrounded.

Rowling has been embroiled in a row with the transgender community since June of 2020, when she posted remarks on X (formerly Twitter) that were widely seen as being transphobic. Rowling has gone on to label herself a TERF – "trans-exclusionary radical feminist."

Rowling's attacks have grown sharper and more personal since. Last year she posted a string of tweets in which she aimed critiques at cherry-picked individuals she said claimed to be transgender but were sexual predators.

The upcoming series has been cast so far with John Lithgow as canonically queer character Albus Dumbledore, Janet McTeer as Minerva McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu as Severus Snape, and Nick Frost as Rubeus Hagrid. A new trio of young actors to portray the series' central trio of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger has yet to be announced.

Reacting to controversy in advance of the series' production, Lithgow acknowledged the concerns around Rowling's social media attacks on the transgender community, but said that those concerns had not been a deciding factor in his acceptance of the role.

"I thought, why is this a factor at all?" Lithgow told The Times UK, before explaining, "It's an eight-year commitment, so I was just thinking about mortality and that this is a very good winding-down role."

The HBO "Harry Potter" adaptation is expected to run for seven seasons, with each season adapting one book in the series. Promising a "decade-long run" for the new long-form project, Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns HBO and Max, also vowed "a faithful adaptation of the beloved original Harry Potter books," Teen Vogue reported.