John Lithgow has said he has been “surprised” and “disappointed” by author J.K. Rowling’s response to being criticised for her views on gender.
The 80-year-old actor, who will play Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore in the new HBO adaptation of Rowling’s Harry Potter books, previously said he was “upset” that he’s being criticised for signing up to the series, clarifying that he believes her views on transgender rights to be “ironic and inexplicable”.
In a new interview with the New Yorker, Lithgow explained that he is excited to take on the role of Dumbledore as: “The great, big, large, project of doing another version of Harry Potter is basically retelling wonderful stories that Rowling created.
“They are very stirring stories. I think there are reasons why they’ve resonated with young people, and young people who have grown up and are still obsessed with Harry Potter.
He added: “Dumbledore is a wonderful role. Doing it in England, with half the crew who worked on The Crown, there was everything attractive about the job, and job security into my late years. You don’t ignore those issues.”
Lithgow went on to say that by the time “the whole subject of Rowling’s imputed prejudice” came up, he had already agreed to star in the show. “I was urged to walk away,” he added. “And I was not about to do that.”
Asked by New Yorker editor David Remnick how he came to that decision, Lithgow said: “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.”
When Remnick mentioned that he had been surprised by the “ferocity” and “cruelty” of Rowling’s response to criticism, Lithgow replied: “I’m surprised by it too, and disappointed.”
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The 3rd Rock From The Sun actor went on to say that he has never met Rowling, and was persuaded to take the role by the show’s writers, former Succession pair Francesca Gardiner and Mark Mylod. “Francesca grew up adoring the Harry Potter canon,” said Lithgow. “She was the big reason I took it on.”
Last year, Rowling supported the campaign group For Women Scotland (FWS) as they brought a series of legal challenges over the legal definition of a “woman.”
The U.K.’s Supreme Court handed down a judgment last April, which found that the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act refer to a biological woman and biological sex.
The decision meant that transgender women can no longer sit on public boards in places set aside for women. It also had potential impacts on the way that trans people use single-sex spaces such as toilets, refuge spaces and hospital wards.
The Last of Us star Pedro Pascal called Rowling a “heinous loser” in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, after she shared a photo from her superyacht, smoking a cigar, alongside the caption, “I love it when a plan comes together.”
