Bel Powley Reveals Why She 'Strongly Disagrees' With JK Rowling Ahead of Harry Potter Role

Bel Powley has said she 'strongly disagrees' with JK Rowling's views on gender while preparing to play Petunia Dursley in HBO's new Harry Potter TV series. The actor made clear she supports 'total acceptance' for the trans community even as she steps into one of the franchise's key roles.

Powley's remarks came in London during an interview about her career and her new Sky supernatural thriller Possession. The conversation later turned to the politics surrounding Rowling's involvement in the Harry Potter reboot. Rowling, who wrote the original novels and is an executive producer on the series, has long faced criticism for remarks on sex and gender that activists and many LGBTQ+ groups describe as anti-trans.

Bel Powley: 'I Strongly Disagree' With JK Rowling on Gender

Asked whether she worries her association with Rowling could hurt her career, Powley did not hedge. 'I strongly disagree with JK Rowling's views on gender,' she said, adding that 'the trans community deserves safety, dignity and respect and total acceptance.' She acknowledged the tension in her position but said she still loves Harry Potter, grew up with the books and has always been drawn to 'magic and spookiness'.

Rowling insists her position is rooted in concerns about safeguarding and women's rights and rejects accusations of transphobia. Her interventions have fuelled an ongoing dispute that shows no sign of ending. Her financial stake and creative influence on the HBO production have prompted boycott calls from parts of the LGBTQ+ community.

Court records show she donated £70,000 to campaign group For Women Scotland, which successfully challenged how the Equality Act should be interpreted in relation to the legal definition of 'woman'. After the group's Supreme Court victory, Rowling posted an image of herself on a yacht with a drink and cigar, a gesture her critics read as trolling.

Lithgow, Frost and Essiedu Join Powley in Distancing Themselves From Rowling

Powley joins a list of cast members on the new series who have publicly separated their own views from Rowling's. John Lithgow, cast as Albus Dumbledore, told reporters he was 'surprised' and 'disappointed' by Rowling's stance, calling it 'ironic and inexplicable' given that the books themselves seem 'on the side of the angels, against intolerance and bigotry'. He said he had been urged to walk away from the show but decided the reasons to stay were 'much, much stronger' than the case for a personal boycott.

Nick Frost, who plays Hagrid, told The Observer that he and Rowling 'just don't align in any way, shape or form'. He said the row 'shouldn't blow over', arguing people should 'educate ourselves' about trans lives rather than hope the conversation disappears. Paapa Essiedu, who plays Severus Snape, has also publicly backed the trans community, signing an open letter last year calling for wider industry support for trans rights.

Possession and Britain's Colonial Past, Explored Through Supernatural Storytelling

In Possession, Powley plays Charlotte Connaught, the daughter of a British plantation owner in 18th-century Jamaica, in a story that cuts between historical flashbacks and a present-day £50 million inheritance dispute. She has drawn comparisons to Get Out in describing how supernatural stories can introduce serious ideas into mainstream entertainment. She said of Britain's history: 'We talk about, congratulate ourselves for, abolition, but we rarely really talk about our involvement in slavery itself.'

Where all of this leaves audiences when Harry Potter arrives on HBO later this year remains an open question. Much of its cast are keen to show they have separated themselves from Rowling's views even as they take on her characters.