A 20-Year ‘Harry Potter’ Reunion Is Officially Coming And J.K Rowling Isn’t Invited
Finally, 'Harry Potter' is good again.
To celebrate 20 years since the first Harry Potter film burst onto the scene, HBO announced that the legendary cast members of the franchise are reuniting for an anniversary special.
Debuting on January 1, 2022, Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts will feature the biggest stars of the franchise like Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, along with a number of notable supporting cast members.
Actors who played beloved characters like Hagrid, Sirius Black, Fred and George Weasley, Luna Lovegood, and Neville Longbottom will all return along with the villains we loved to hate like Draco Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, Professor Quirrell and Voldemort.
However one big name missing from the billing is J.K Rowling, who will only feature in the four-part special through archival footage as the cast take a retrospective look at the creation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
They’re back…
See Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson reunite on 1st January 2022 for a very special show, celebrating the first film’s 20th anniversary ✨
Find out all you need to know here:https://t.co/va3u6XtB4T pic.twitter.com/OxsZ1I872p
— Wizarding World (@wizardingworld) November 16, 2021
While Rowling has not shared why she isn’t taking part in the reunion, people believe it boils down to the Harry Potter creator’s trans-exclusionary comments that have cropped up over the last few years.
In 2019, Rowling was called out for supporting a British woman who was fired over transphobia in the workplace. Since then, the Harry Potter author has continued to make headlines for her tweets that echo a lot of the arguments made by TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists).
And in 2020, Rowling even wrote a 3,600 word essay that pushed the idea that trans people should be identified by their biological sex as they are allegedly a danger to women, children and feminism.
But when Rowling was outed as a TERF, Radcliffe, Grint and Watson immediately criticised her comments to assert they did not hold the same views about transgender people.
“Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than [Rowling] or I,” Radcliffe wrote in The Trevor Project.
“I firmly stand with the trans community and echo the sentiments expressed by many of my peers,” Grint added at the time. “Trans women are women. Trans men are men. We should all be entitled to live with love and without judgment”
Similarly, Watson shared her support of the trans community through a Twitter thread where she reiterated that trans people should be able to live their lives without being “constantly questioned”.
“Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are,” Watson said. “I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are.”
Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.
— Emma Watson (@EmmaWatson) June 10, 2020
But even though Rowling isn’t going to be in the reunion special, whether it’s because of her anti-trans comments or not, cast members who publicly defended the author’s transphobia are still involved in the project.
In case you’ve forgotten, Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort) came to the defence of Rowling back in March, sharing that he “can’t understand the vitriol directed at her”.
Meanwhile, Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) told the world that he didn’t think anything that Rowling had said was offensive and claimed that criticism only came from a “whole Twitter generation of people who hang around waiting to be offended”.
But, hey. At least we’ll always find comfort in knowing that our main trio of wizards aren’t J.K Rowling apologists.
Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts lands on HBO Max on January 1. It will likely land on Binge not too soon later.