In recent years, the “Harry Potter” franchise has been plagued with creator and author J.K. Rowling using her billionaire status and global reach to attack a vulernable group like the trans community with vile misinformation and that led to cast members to refute those stances and now actress Emma Watson is sort of sending out a bit of an olive branch of sorts by speaking on the complexities of their relationship.
Watson appeared on the “Jay Shetty Podcast” (via Variety), who has sort of self-retired for the moment (we hope she returns to acting in the future), to sort of talk up the idea of having a difference of opinions but still being hopeful that the two can still care for each other in other ways. Harkening back to her experiences growing up with Rowling as a female figure during that wild time, making the string of “Potter” films.
“I really don’t believe that by having had that experience and holding the love and support and views that I have, that I can’t and don’t treasure Jo and the person that I had personal experiences with,” Watson said on the podcast. “I will never believe that one negates the other and that my experience of that person, I don’t get to keep and cherish, I to come back to our earlier thing. Like, I just don’t think these things are either or. I think it’s my deepest wish that I, I hope people who don’t agree with my opinion will love me, and I hope I can keep loving people [whom] I don’t necessarily share the same opinion with.”
Adding what likely has been a glaring issue for Watson when it comes to Rowling, “I think the thing I’m most upset about is that a conversation was never made possible.” But was still optimistic that those channels of communication could be opened up down the line, “Yeah, and I always will. I believe in that. I believe in that completely.”
If you weren’t already aware, Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, David Tennant, and others have vocally opposed Rowling’s anti-trans activism and smears, that has moved on from social media posts to actual putting money into political actions to combat the trans communities abililties to be accepted or even exist in society or public spaces (trans folks as most of us already grasp are just people after all trying to fight for equality in a world that is sadly overwhelmed with hate for anyone seen as an “other” or not a combation of straight/white/cis-gendered) while folks like the author keep using fear tactics (in the form of sexual assaults of young girls if trans women are given access to bathrooms) to give their bigotry cover from most common sense and logic counterpoints against that push for oppression.
There has been an obvious but unverified theory floating among the industry concerning the expensive “Harry Potter” reboot series, currently in production on the massive stages at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden (oddly HBO is building the child actors an on-site school rather than busing them to a local one), that was put in development as a way to start replacing the old guard of actors from both merchandise and the theme park at Universal Studios, updating to the new cast.
We don’t know how much of that is actually true (sounds like it could be more being done for business reasons, more than spite, but who really knows?). However, an outcome of recasting those key roles likely means they will end up becoming the NEW faces of the franchise moving forward, and HBO Max is said to be aiming to squeeze out a decade’s worth of episodes with this new group of actors to replicate what originally happened with the features.
You can check out that podcast episode with Watson below.
