Studying Time: 2 minutes
Amid a whirlwind controversy, a brand new sequence primarily based on JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novels is headed to HBO.
We’ll delve into the weightier discourse surrounding the present in only a bit, however for now let’s take a gander on the first pictures of John Lithgow as Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore.
Sure, Lithgow is getting into the function beforehand occupied by the late Richard Harris, who was changed by Michael Gambon after his passing.
Now, casting an American as Dumbledore was a transfer that had the potential to ignite controversy.
In any case, think about the uproar if Austin Butler have been chosen as the brand new James Bond — and Dumbledore is nearly as iconic a personality.
Happily, the Brits — probably with a full understanding that Lithgow is a dwelling legend and might do no fallacious — have chosen to not gripe concerning the problem. For probably the most half, anyway.
Moreover, there are way more essential arguments to have in relation to this present.
For starters, you’ve bought the oldsters who rightly query the necessity for such a sequence.
John Lithgow attends the 2025 Vainness Truthful Oscar Occasion Hosted By Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Heart for the Performing Arts on March 02, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California. (Picture by Amy Sussman/Getty Pictures)
In any case, each photograph we’ve seen from the set appears to point that the purpose right here is to recreate the unique Harry Potter movies in painstaking element.
If John Lithgow’s Dumbledore goes to look and act similar to Richard Harris’ can’t followers simply return and watch the films?
After which there’s the problem of Rowling’s transformation from beloved youngsters’s e book writer to anti-trans rights warrior.
In recent times, Rowling has come underneath intense public scrutiny for her statements concerning intercourse, gender identification, and transgender rights.
J.Okay. Rowling arrives on the “Fantastic Beasts: The Secret of Dumbledore” world premiere at The Royal Competition Corridor on March 29, 2022 in London, England. (Picture by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Pictures)
Her views have sparked passionate debate over problems with free speech, ladies’s rights, and transgender inclusion, with many followers questioning why she would sacrifice her repute simply to go on the assault in opposition to a small and marginalized phase of the inhabitants.
So lots of people who would possible be desperate to examine this sequence out now say they’ll be skipping it because of Rowling’s problematic politics.
It’s a disgrace that such a previously universally beloved story now has such painful associations for thus many.
Because of this we, as a society, can’t have good issues — like John Lithgow as Dumbledore.
