'Harry Potter’s New Dumbledore Defends J.K. Rowling From Critics

1 week ago 9

John Lithgow as Dumbledore in Harry Potter

Published Apr 5, 2026, 8:30 PM EDT

Chris is a Senior News Writer for Collider. He can be found in an IMAX screen, with his eyes watering and his ears bleeding for his own pleasure. He joined the news team in 2022 and accidentally fell upwards into a senior position despite his best efforts.

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The new Harry Potter series was always going to arrive with a lot of baggage, and not just because it’s attempting to revisit one of the biggest fantasy properties ever made. The HBO reboot has already been under a microscope for months, with every casting decision, every creative update, and every first-look reveal being picked apart online.

That was always going to be especially true for whoever stepped into the role of Albus Dumbledore, one of the franchise’s most beloved figures. Now that John Lithgow has officially taken on the part, he’s also found himself having to answer for the wider controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling.

And this time, he’s making his feelings pretty clear. Lithgow recently appeared on The New Yorker Radio Hour and addressed the backlash surrounding Rowling’s anti-trans views while discussing why he still chose to sign on for the HBO series. The actor said the issue surfaced after the project was already in motion for him, and he made it clear he wasn’t willing to walk away.

“There was everything attractive about the job, and job security into my late years. You don’t ignore those issues. The whole subject of Rowling’s imputed prejudice, it came up after everything was already underway. I’d already said yes […] I was urged to walk away, and I was not about to do that.”

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Does John Lithgow Agree With J.K. Rowling?

Lithgow went on to explain that, in his view, the arguments in favor of doing the series outweighed the reasons to step back.

“The reasons to do it were much, much stronger than the reasons to protest against what Rowling has done and said. I do disagree with much of it, much of it I think has been twisted and misrepresented, and she has doubled down on it at her own cost.”

Lithgow added he’s “surprised and disappointed” by Rowling’s continued posts, though he also stressed that she wasn’t the reason he joined the series in the first place. In fact, he said he still hasn’t met her.

“I have not met her. The other positive on the ‘Harry Potter’ project is the people who have taken it on themselves. Francesca Gardiner and Mark Mylod have an extraordinary partnership. Francesca… she persuaded me, she’s the big reason I took it on.”

The series already debuted its first footage of Lithgow as Dumbledore last month, with Rowling herself praising the show online and saying it “is going to be incredible. I’m so happy with it.”

HBO’s Harry Potter is set to debut this Christmas.