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Morning Show star Bel Powley, who is set to appear in HBO Max’s upcoming Harry Potter series, is speaking out in opposition of J.K. Rowling’s anti-trans beliefs.
“I strongly disagree with J.K. Rowling’s views on gender,” Powley, 34, told The Telegraph in an interview published on Monday, August 10. “I think that the trans community deserves safety and dignity and respect and total acceptance.”
The actress continued, “But I love Harry Potter. I grew up with the books. I am from that first generation of readers and, again, I love magic and spookiness.”
Us has reached out to Rowling, 61, for comment.
Over the years, Rowling — the author of the best-selling Harry Potter books — has made headlines for her comments targeting the trans community, including her public support of anti-trans laws banning trans women from competing in women’s sports.
“‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” Rowling wrote via X in June 2020 while sharing an opinion article titled “Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.”
Five years later, the author praised the U.K. Supreme Court’s ruling that womanhood is legally defined by biological sex.
The author has denied being transphobic, claiming her views are simply “pro-feminist” and in defense of women.
“I refuse to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm in seeking to erode ‘woman’ as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it,” she wrote in a June 2020 essay. “I stand alongside the brave women and men, gay, straight and trans, who’re standing up for freedom of speech and thought, and for the rights and safety of some of the most vulnerable in our society: young gay kids, fragile teenagers, and women who’re reliant on and wish to retain their single sex spaces.”
Her essay prompted Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Eddie Redmayne, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson — among countless others — to speak out in defense of trans people and their rights.
J.K. Rowling is considered one of the most successful authors of all time for writing the fictional Harry Potter series, but her real-life opinions have stirred controversy. The author first came under fire in 2007 shortly after the series’ final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published. Rowling revealed to fans at Carnegie […]
Powley is hopeful viewers of the upcoming Harry Potter TV series will once again be transformed into a world of awe and wonder that so many fell in love with when the books were first released in the late ‘90s — despite the author’s anti-trans views.
“I believe that energy doesn’t disappear. The world doesn’t get lighter if someone dies, does it?” she said. “The energy shifts into the trees and the grass and the sky and I find that quite comforting.”
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone premieres on HBO Christmas 2026 and will be available to stream exclusively on HBO Max where it’s available.
