HBO announced on Monday that it has cast nine additional roles for its upcoming Harry Potter series. Notable actors like Katherine Parkinson (Molly Weasley), Johnny Flynn (Lucius Malfoy), and Daniel Rigby (Vernon Dursley) will be joined by newcomers Leo Earley, Alessia Leoni, and Sienna Moosah. Unfortunately, their social media mentions might not survive the backlash.
We’ve seen this scenario unfold before. The Harry Potter franchise has become a heated battleground, and the pattern is all too familiar. When John Lithgow was cast as Dumbledore, he revealed that a friend sent him an article titled, “An Open Letter to John Lithgow: Please Walk Away From Harry Potter.”
This is merely the beginning. When Nick Frost was announced as the new Hagrid—claiming he manifested the role by writing “Hagrid” 5,000 times—he had to disable comments on Instagram almost immediately. He later stated in an interview that his views “don’t align in any way, shape, or form” with those of J.K. Rowling. Meanwhile, Paapa Essiedu tried to mitigate controversy by signing a petition advocating for the protection of trans individuals in the UK entertainment industry, but this did not spare him from criticism. Each of these actors has attempted to navigate the controversy, yet they’ve all faced backlash.
The reality is stark: A few years ago, landing a role in a Harry Potter series would have simply indicated a lucrative opportunity with a company struggling for fresh ideas. Today, in 2025, becoming a Harry Potter actor essentially means making a political statement—whether they intend to or not.
As a result, this week’s casting announcement was met with weary sighs on social media. Parkinson, in particular, has faced significant criticism due to her breakout role in The IT Crowd, created by Graham Linehan, who shares Rowling’s views on gender.
It’s unlikely that Parkinson spends her days researching the owners of every script she receives for transphobic sentiments. Yet now, she and the other actors named on Monday, as well as anyone even remotely connected to Harry Potter, face pressure to declare their stance. In short, this situation is a tangled mess.
And this isn’t going away anytime soon. With over a year until the Harry Potter series premieres, filming could extend for at least a decade. Lithgow has mentioned this will likely be his final major role, as he will be nearing 90 when it concludes. Every notable event—be it a press junket or a new announcement—will bring these issues to the forefront, requiring actors to repeatedly clarify their positions. Those who oppose Rowling’s views will have to do so repeatedly, while those in agreement will face their own challenges. Actors wanting a quieter life will find themselves struggling to give noncommittal responses to pointed questions. There’s simply no escaping this reality.
To complicate things further, audiences have already made up their minds about watching Harry Potter. Some may tune in because of nostalgia or an affinity for Rowling’s views, while others may opt out to avoid financially supporting her or simply because the thought of reliving stories they hardly enjoyed is exhausting. What remains is a series that’s impossible to ignore, leading us into a long, complicated decade ahead.
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