Social Media Reacts to ‘Harry Potter’ Star John Lithgow Rejecting J.K. Rowling Backlash

John Lithgow has responded to backlash surrounding his decision to take the role of Albus Dumbledore for Max’s new Harry Potter series, despite the widespread furor over J.K. Rowling‘s controversial views on transgender women, and his words are only earning more ire for the actor.

Lithgow is one of several notable actors tapped to appear in the new show, which will premiere in 2026 with a first season focused on the events of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. He has so far been the most outspoken about the role, and his words are drawing intense scrutiny.

Earlier this month, Lithgow responded to backlash about his casting, but his words were more focused on the fact that he’s an American and not a British actor, rather than the issue of Rowling’s continued involvement as executive producer on the show. “I will be following the great Michael Gambon,” he said on the BBC’s The One Show. “I’m not an Englishman, although I’ve played one on TV. I remind everyone that I did play Winston Churchill on The Crown and did just fine.”

However, in a new interview with The Times U.K., which was published Sunday (April 27), he was directly asked about the issue of Rowling’s anti-trans positions, and he admitted he’d been confronted about it by “a very good friend who is the mother of a trans child,” who texted him a link to the BookRiot op-ed An Open Letter to John Lithgow: Please Walk Away From Harry Potter. “That was the canary in the coal mine,” he told the publication.

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Lithgow went on to tell The Times that his reaction to the controversy Rowling courts was, “I thought, ‘Why is this a factor at all?’ I wonder how J.K. Rowling has absorbed it. I suppose at a certain point, I’ll meet her, and I’m curious to talk to her.'” As for whether the backlash changed his mind at all about playing the headmaster for Harry Potter, he said, “Oh heavens no.”

Lithgow also compared his decision to join the Harry Potter series despite the backlash to what he’s done in the theater, playing Roald Dahl, who was antisemitic. “No one complained when I agreed to play Dahl, but I’ve received so many messages about Rowling. Isn’t that odd?” the actor said in the interview.

Reactions to Lithgow’s words began to percolate on social media, and many users were highly unimpressed with his logic.

“Didn’t take John Lithgow for a prick,” one X (formerly Twitter) user wrote simply in response to a snippet of Lithgow’s interview. “When I say that cis people simply don’t care enough about trans people, as human beings, John Lithgow here is a prime example of what I am talking about. That he absolutely didn’t expect backlash for taking the role shows that he simply doesn’t care about trans people either way,” wrote another.

One user predicted that Lithgow’s involvement with the Harry Potter show could tarnish his professional reputation, which just enjoyed another boost thanks to the awards season attention to Conclave: “John Lithgow, coming off a popular award winning film, getting ready to do the last role of his career by tarnishing his reputation to be in a mid remake TV series produced by a psycho for a paycheck he won’t live to fully enjoy anyway.” 

Meanwhile, another was particularly disturbed by the fact that Lithgow’s unnamed friend’s message didn’t change his mind, writing, “to not even be moved when a close friend tells you how they and their child will be personally hurt by this… really sick sh**.”

Some users actively called for a reactionary boycott of Lithgow’s other work. For example, one user wrote, “John Lithgow isn’t that stupid or out of touch, he knows exactly what he is doing, his first and only concern was for Rowling. I urge people to cancel and shun him, including everything and everyone he is associated with.”

Harry Potter, 2026, Max