“Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling is playing a part in the making of the upcoming HBO series based on the fantasy books — despite her history of anti-transgender rhetoric.
HBO CEO Casey Bloys confirmed at a press event Tuesday that while Rowling, 59, is an executive producer on the show, her controversies have not affected the development process.
“She’s been fairly involved — she was very involved in the process of selecting the writer and the director,” Bloys told reporters at the London West Hollywood hotel in Los Angeles.
“I imagine she’ll have opinions on casting,” Bloys continued. “It hasn’t affected the casting or hiring of writers or production staff or anything, so we haven’t felt any impact from that.”
Rowling has been open about her views on the transgender community.
Her controversial comments, most of which have been made on social media, have even prompted “Harry Potter” movie stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson to publicly disagree.
After a new hate crime law — banning hatred on the basis of age, disability, race, religion, sexual orientation and transgender identity — began in her native Scotland, Rowling taunted Scottish police to try to arrest her for misgendering people.
Despite her views, Rowling is among the crop of people executive-producing HBO’s television adaptation of her famous book series.
The show is helmed by “Succession” producers Francesca Gardiner (who will write and executive produce) and Mark Mylod (also a “Game of Thrones” alum, who will executive produce and direct several episodes).
In June, Rowling revealed that she consulted with Gardiner and Mylod about the show and read the first script. “I’m certain the TV show will more than live up to expectations,” she shared on X.
At Tuesday’s press event, Bloys said he thinks the series will be ready to premiere in 2027, four years after it was initially announced.
Bloys also addressed how the making of the show will work with a cast of mostly young actors.
“It is something we’re thinking about,” he said. “One of the ideas we talked about was shooting the first season and the second season very close to each other, time-wise, because the kids — from 11 to 13 is a big jump in kids’ lives. You can get away with 13 to 15, something like that. So we are going to have to think about scheduling and shooting so that they don’t grow too much between seasons. It is a consideration.”
None of the actors from the “Harry Potter” movies are expected to be in the show.
“I think they very wisely want to [have] a clean break,” Radcliffe, 35, told “E! News” earlier this year of the show’s creators. “And I don’t know if it would work to have us do anything in it.”
In its first press release for the upcoming series, HBO said, “The stories from each of Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter’ books will become a decadelong series produced with the same epic craft, love and care this global franchise is known for.”
The release added, “The series will feature a new cast to lead a new generation of fandom, full of the fantastic detail, much-loved characters and dramatic locations that ‘Harry Potter’ fans have loved for over 25 years.”
