JK Rowling is readying the champagne in response to a planned boycott of the upcoming Harry Potter TV series (Picture: FilmMagic)
JK Rowling has given a sarcasm-laden response to the planned boycott of the upcoming Harry Potter TV series.
The author’s characters are being given new life more than a decade since the acclaimed film franchise came to an end, it was revealed this month.
HBO Max confirmed in April they had ordered the first-ever TV adaption of the Harry Potter book series, which they said would be a ‘faithful adaption.’
And while some fans went wild for the news, others were less than happy, particularly amid reports the author, 57, would be brought on as executive producer of the series.
As the news broke, some fans declared they would distance themselves from the new project due to Rowling’s views and past comments on transgender people and women’s rights.
Similar calls for a boycott were made ahead of the release of the Harry Potter video game, Hogwarts Legacy, however the game went on to sell far more copies than initially predicted.
Rowling has now responded to activists and former fans who are calling for a boycott of the series, sarcastically calling it ‘dreadful news, which I feel duty bound to share.’
The author had a sarcastic response upon learning people were planning to boycott the new HBO series (Picture: Getty Images)
Rowling was the creator of the Harry Potter book series, which went on to become a film phenomenon launching the careers of Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Dan Radcliffe (Picture: Getty Images)
‘Activists in my mentions are trying to organise yet another boycott of my work, this time of the Harry Potter TV show,’ she wrote on Twitter.
‘As forewarned is forearmed, I’ve taken the precaution of laying in a large stock of champagne.’
Bosses of the new Harry Potter production have previously shut down queries about Rowling’s gender views, saying it was ‘not something we’re going to get into.’
At a Q&A and presentation announcing the series on Wednesday in the US, Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and Max content, was asked whether Rowling’s stance could affect the ability to cast actors.
Declining to comment, Casey said according to Variety: ‘No, I don’t think this is the forum. That’s a very online conversation, very nuanced and complicated and not something we’re going to get into.
‘Our priority is what’s on the screen, Obviously, the Harry Potter story is incredibly affirmative and positive and about love and self-acceptance. That’s our priority — what’s on screen.
Rowling recently admitted she doesn’t ‘care’ about her ‘legacy’ after writing the popular books (Picture: Getty Images)
Elaborating on JK’s role as an executive producer on the series, Bloys explained ‘her insights are going to be helpful on that’.
The writer, who also goes by the pen name Robert Galbraith for her Strike novels, recently admitted she ‘doesn’t care’ about ‘ruining her legacy’ in the eyes of former fans.
‘I never set out to upset anyone. However, I was not uncomfortable with getting off my pedestal,’ she stated in an episode of new podcast The Witch Trials of JK Rowling.
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She continued: ‘And what has interested me in the last 10 years and certainly in the last few years, particularly on social media “You’ve ruined your legacy, oh you could have been beloved forever but you chose to say this” and I think you could not have misunderstood me more profoundly.
‘I do not walk around my house thinking about my legacy, what a pompous way to live your life walking around thinking about what my legacy will be. Whatever. I’ll be dead.’ I care about now. I care about the living.’ ‘
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She’s readying the champagne.
