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Harry Potter series writer JK Rowling stated that she would not want to sack actor Paapa Essiedu from the upcoming HBO series based on her best-selling series. Her comments came after Essiedu shared different views from the author about trans rights.
In an X post dated May 5, JK Rowling claimed that she does not have the power to sack an actor from the Harry Potter series over differing views. Further, the author wrote that she would not believe in exercising such a right even if she could.
"I don’t have the power to sack an actor from the series, and I wouldn’t exercise it if I did. I don’t believe in taking away people’s jobs or livelihoods because they hold legally protected beliefs that differ from mine," Rowling wrote.
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Paapa Essiedu has been roped in to play the role of Professor Severus Snape in the upcoming HBO Harry Potter series.
Last week, Paapa Essiedu signed an open letter with pro-trans beliefs after the UK Supreme Court ruled that the terms "woman" and "sex" will strictly refer to a biological woman or their sex. The open letter criticized the court's judgement, arguing that it "undermines the lived reality and threatens the safety of trans, non-binary and intersex people living in the UK."
The open letter received over 2,000 signatures. Paapa Essiedu, alongside other Harry Potter franchise actors, such as Eddie Redmayne and Katie Leung, signed the letter, noting their pro-trans stance. This differs from JK Rowling's controversial views about trans people. The author notably celebrated the UK Supreme Court's judgement categorizing "woman" as only biological women.
JK Rowling addresses the protest against the UK Supreme Court judgement in an essay following Paapa Essiedu signing pro-trans letter
On Saturday, May 3, JK Rowling took to X to pen a lengthy essay in support of the UK Supreme Court's judgement on trans people. In her letter, she referred to "back-stabbing colleagues" who she claimed were "motivated by fear."
"In light of recent open letters from academia and the arts criticising the UK’s Supreme Court ruling on sex-based rights, it’s possibly worth remembering that nobody sane believes, or has ever believed, that humans can change sex, or that binary sex isn’t a material fact. These letters do nothing but remind us of what we know only too well: that pretending to believe these things has become an elitist badge of virtue," JK Rowling wrote.
Her comments seemingly referred to actors such as Paapa Essiedu signing the pro-trans letter, which goes against her views. JK Rowling further questioned the "signatories" of such letters, who she claimed support a movement that is allegedly designed to thwart women's rights. She also alleged that the movement "bullies gay people" who admit they do not want partners from the opposite sex, and harms troubled and vulnerable children.
JK Rowling went on to allege that some of the signatories of the letter are motivated by fear of men. It is worth noting that multiple members of the original Harry Potter films' cast, including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, spoke against Rowling's views publicly in the past.
"Some argue that signatories of these sorts of letters are motivated by fear: fear for their careers, of course, but also fear of their co-religionists, who include angry, narcissistic men who threaten and sometimes enact violence on non-believers; back-stabbing colleagues ever ready to report wrongthink; the online shamers and doxxers and r*pe threateners, and, of course, the influential zealots in the upper echelons of liberal professions," she wrote.
JK Rowling further claimed that court orders are turning in the right direction and "women are fighting back and winning significant victories" in this scenario. She further urged the people who signed the pro-trans letter to "feel shame" and called them out, although she did not name anyone.
Among the signatories was Eddie Redmayne, who starred in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, which was also a creation of JK Rowling. Katie Leung was another signatory, who starred as Cho Chang in the Harry Potter films. Other British actors who signed the letter include Bella Ramsey, Joe Alwyn, and Nicola Coughlan.
Paapa Essiedu was one of the most notable signatories as he has been cast as Severus Snape in the upcoming HBO series based on Rowling's novels, where she also serves as an executive producer.
For those unversed, Paapa Essiedu's casting as Snape has led to mixed reactions among Potterheads. Many were against a black man playing the role of Snape, who's been described as a pale-skinned man in the books. Actor Alan Rickman portrayed the character in the original films, while Essiedu is a stark shift from that imagination.
While the rest of the show's cast has yet to be announced, HBO officially announced the casting of some of the characters on April 14, 2025.
