‘Harry Potter’ actress Bel Powley breaks with J.K. Rowling over trans stance

Actress Bel Powley, who plays Petunia Dursley in HBO’s upcoming “Harry Potter” series, has become the latest cast member to publicly split with author J.K. Rowling over her views on transgender issues.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Ms. Powley made her stance known.

“I strongly disagree with J.K. Rowling’s views on gender,” she said, according to the Telegraph interview reported by NME. “I think that the trans community deserve safety and dignity and respect and total acceptance.”

She said the disagreement hasn’t dimmed her enthusiasm for the franchise she grew up reading. 

Ms. Powley, 34, is playing Harry Potter’s dour Muggle aunt in the seven-season HBO adaptation, which Ms. Rowling is executive producing and which premieres on HBO Max on Christmas Day.

She’s not the first member of the new cast to distance himself from Ms. Rowling’s stance. John Lithgow, cast as Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, told The New Yorker Radio Hour, in comments syndicated by Yardbarker, that he considered walking away from the role over the backlash tied to Ms. Rowling’s comments but ultimately chose to stay. Mr. Lithgow, who has previously called Ms. Rowling’s views “ironic and inexplicable,” said the reasons to take the part “were much, much stronger than the reasons to protest,” while allowing that “much of it has been twisted and misrepresented.”

Ms. Rowling has for years faced public criticism from actors tied to the “Harry Potter” universe, including original trio stars Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint. The rift with Ms. Watson escalated last fall, when Ms. Rowling used a lengthy X post detailed by The National Desk to reject the actress’s conciliatory remarks on a podcast, writing that Ms. Watson “has so little experience of real life she’s ignorant of how ignorant she is.” Ms. Rowling contrasted her own upbringing in poverty with Ms. Watson’s wealth and argued that adults shouldn’t expect a friend’s affection while aligning with “an activist movement that regularly calls for a friend’s assassination.”

Ms. Rowling has consistently maintained she has no objection to adults identifying differently but opposes extending access to women-only spaces, such as bathrooms, prisons and sports, to biological males.