JK Rowling says she chose not to appear in Harry Potter reunion special

JK Rowling has said she was asked to appear in Return To Hogwarts, the Harry Potter 20th anniversary special, and chose not to.

Cast members from the films, including Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) reminisced on the film franchise in the special, which was released on New Year’s Day this year.

Addressing her absence, Rowling told Graham Norton on his Virgin radio show: ‘I was asked to be on that and I decided I didn’t want to do it.

‘I decided it was about the films more than the books, you know? Quite rightly, that’s what the anniversary was about. I was asked to do it and I decided not to.’

Rowling only appeared in archival footage in the anniversary special, which also featured cast members including Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, Tom Felton, Bonnie Wright, Robbie Coltrane, Gary Oldman, and Imelda Staunton.

Over the past couple of years, many fans have expressed their disappointment after the author spoke out about transgender people.

She had commented on a story with a headline that read: ‘Opinion: Creating a more equal post-Covid-19 world for people who menstruate.’

Taking issue with the phrasing, JK wrote: ‘”People who menstruate”. I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?’

She followed the comments with a string of tweets, including one that saw her declare: ‘I’d march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans,’ despite many trans people pointing out that they are being discriminated against.

Following Rowling’s comments, many of the Harry Potter cast, including Daniel, Rupert, and Emma, shared statements of support for the transgender community.

Others, including John Cleese and Robbie Coltrane, came to her defence

Since, some of Rowling’s actions have continued to fuel tensions with trans equality groups, including when she attended a ‘raucous’ lunch with women’s rights campaigners the day after thousands of trans equality groups descended on Downing Street to protest for the ban of conversion therapy in the UK.

Rowling, who has previously denied being transphobic, was joined by a large group of guests, including Maya Forstater, co-founder of Sex Matters which supports the Respect My Sex slogan, Professor Kathleen Stock who resigned from the University of Sussex amid a transphobia row, MP Rosie Duffield, and Get The L Out activist Lianne Timmermann.

Helen Joyce, who penned Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality, was also in attendance.