Trailer for new Harry Potter series

[ItsCoolForCats]

The trailer for the new Harry Potter series has been released. In its write up, the Guardian of course had to have a dig about JK Rowling's "anti-transgender views" 🙄

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/mar/25/harry-potter-tv-series-trailer

It got me thinking, this series will run for about ten years, and I wonder if the perception of JKR will have shifted by the end. Will people (including so called journalists) be able to discuss the substance of what she has said, rather than just shouting "Bigot!", "Transphobe!" etc.

There was an interview with Paapa Essiedu in the Times recently, where he said he hasn't spoken to JKR, he doesn't regret signing the letter condemning the Supreme Court ruling and would do it again.

He said "“My points of view are mine and will continue to be so. I signed that letter because I believe that artists in the trans community have a right to be treated with dignity and should be able to work without being intimidated. I have been really supported by the production team and I’d sign that letter again today.”

If he actually spoke to JKR, he might be surprised to find that she would agree with him that people should be treated with dignity in the workplace and shouldn't be intimidated. I think it goes to show that he, like others, doesn't have a very good understanding of what this is about at all. Doesn't stop them sticking the boot into JKR though...

www.thetimes.com/article/8b7a7b6c-8e6e-4eef-bf45-69bb76a52f9d?shareToken=abbccd1782106049bcb5f5f3210ebc4c

What irritates me most, actually, is watching Youtubers gush over every detail of the trailer, talk about how much they love HP, and how it made their childhoods so much better, and how they're so excited about the series...

And then apropos of nothing, declare 'fuck JK' rather like the plopper on this thread, and rant for a moment about how abhorrent she is, and how much they hate her...

If they despise her so much, then frankly I wish they wouldn't talk about it. But clearly they all love the creation of her mind too much to just not watch it, because it's so bloody good - so instead they watch it, and try to protect themselves from critique by chanting the Party mantra.

Seaweed makes an excellent fertiliser for grass, gives a much more sustained nourishment than an initial mad flush.

Anyway, I think the trailer looks excellent and not only am I hugely looking forward to the series (as I suspect millions of people are) but I hope it brings JKR lots of lovely money to keep funding women's rights cases and buy herself new yachts for herself on which to toast the victories. The handwringing from a vocal minority convinced that they can turn it into a flop will just be another re-run of Hogwarts Legacy which was a massive hit despite the best efforts of the TRAs.

Not a Harry Potter fan. I tried! But always here for any discussion involving JKR as I absolutely love her. It’s utterly pathetic that virtually every newspaper or online review of the new series, when it airs, will invariably distance itself from JKR’s so-called transphobia. Just in case anyone jumps to the wrong conclusion and thinks that a good review equals an endorsement of JKR’s support for women - um, sorry, transphobia🙄

I think that is the impression given by the trailer because they aren't going to deviate much from the look of the original series in terms of costumes etc. But the new production will devote an entire series to each book, so it will be able to explore some of the themes and plots in the books in much more detail. So I think it is worth it for that.

And then she will probably start another Charity.

I am just fascinated by the Guardian’s inconsistency on the ‘art vs artist’ debate too. The statue outside the BBC created by notorious child abuser Eric Gill? Art! We should all grow up and learn to separate the art from the crimes of the artist.

JK Rowling and Roisin Murphy, meanwhile, who have bravely spoken out to protect women and children’s rights? Their works and everything associated with them must forever be condemned as evil because of the views of their creators.

And this is the right side of history, is it?

This is what I’m looking forward to. This series should have far more detail than the films. Can’t wait!

How very dare she! Taking millions in royalty and using it to HELP people!

Yes. I probably won't watch the Harry Potter series because I'm really not the demographic (then again, I did enjoy the books...) But one of the things I've always hated is seeing film adaptations of books where a complicated plot has to be squeezed into two hours. Compare the tv adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, for example, with the film adaptation(s) and it's clear the tv version is far superior because it tells the story over six hours, allowing plenty of time for nuanced story telling and character development. TV and film adaptations of Jane Eyre are another example.

Whatever else you say about her qualities as a writer, Rowling is a master (mistress?) of complicated plotting, and hopefully the tv series will be able to do justice to the twists and turns of the books.

I'd lose many of my favourite authors if I had to judge their morals.

I still enjoy books by authors whose morals and politics are throughly abhorrent to me. It doesn't always show.

My big criticism with the trailer is I really hate how dull the colors look compared to the movies but that's not a Harry Potter thing and more a modern film production issue I see in every company. Onto the main topic I find it funny (and by funny I mean infuriating) how many people on various social media sites have the gall to make "you're awful even if you pirate this" while having posts supporting people watching the Good Omens final. The thing that directly gives royalties to Neil Gaiman. On X there's also the fact I've seen blue check accounts doing the same which is extremely funny because that money goes to Elon Musk, a man who has disowned his transgender kid.

I like the look of the trailer and will definitely we watching the series.
I could not admire JKR any more than I already do. It takes a special type of person to stand up for your beliefs in the face of such hate and opposition. People just don’t see the nuance in the arguments she makes. It is possible to support trans people and also recognise the negative impact of the dumbing down of what it means to be a woman. Terms like ‘cis’, ‘chest feeding’ and ‘people who menstruate’ genuinely make me so sad and angry.

The absolutely outraging thing is in this whole political debate about whether men can pretend to be women and invade women's spaces, JKR is Harry.

The things that happen to Harry - him telling the truth about Voldemort and then being made to write lines in blood on his hand 'I must not tell lies'. Him being pilloried and made out to be mad and bad for telling the truth.

Except obviously, there was less evidence that Voldemort was back than there is that all mammals can't change sex.

TRAs and brain dead luvvies have contributed to the same thing happening to women who've dared to say 'I don't perceive this man as a woman and don't want him and his penis in my/ my daughter's single sex spaces'. Women have been fired, lost their livelihoods and had death and rape threats against them and their children. It's been far worse than Harry experienced, but it's the same dynamic.

Esseidu is essentially either Umbridge or someone like Malfoy - who goes along with Umbridge because it's the easy thing to do and he quite enjoys sticking the boot into Harry.

How you can act in a story about these books and not see the blindingly obvious parallels is beyond me.

Have mentioned this before but - massive JKR nerd and reading it with the youngest child right now - the scene where Dumbledore refuses to use Voldemorts wrong-sex pronouns call Tom Riddle by his new fancy 'I'm-better-than-you" name is pure brilliance and an EXCELLENT thing to read to children about assertive drawing of boundaries and refusal to be coerced

There is no nuance. Either women and girls are allowed to have spaces without penises in them or they're not.

It's not complicated at all. People pretend it is because they don't want to admit they don't think women should have equal human rights to men. But it really is that simple.

I read this as meaning that JKR has been crystal clear that she thinks trans people should have respect, dignity etc just as everyone else should, just not at the expense of women and girls.

In terms of the trailer. I hope it is truer to the books. The movies deviated in ways that always made things worse, though I do appreciate the time constraints. But the decisions where they randomly transferred words and actions to other characters always really irritated me.

JKR is a very very very clever woman and I don't think there is much in the books that wasn't very carefully thought through. Particularly in terms of the characters.

This is another enraging thing - she's obviously so clever, these actors who think that somehow she doesn't know what she's talking about. When there's absolutely no way they could produce a body of work as she has and have quite clearly never bothered to read what she's written on this topic. Dimwits the lot of them.

The absolutely outraging thing is in this whole political debate about whether men can pretend to be women and invade women's spaces, JKR is Harry.
The things that happen to Harry - him telling the truth about Voldemort and then being made to write lines in blood on his hand 'I must not tell lies'. Him being pilloried and made out to be mad and bad for telling the truth.

I'm always struck by the parallels between the Quibbler and the likes of the Mail, Telegraph etc - all dismissed as jokes, rags, not worth bothering with because some what they publish is dross, but ultimately they were telling the truth, much as there were those who didn't want to hear it and went to any length to dismiss what was being published.

Hold on. I had completely forgotten about the existence of Dairylea slices. Off to the shops...

Salman is actually happy with a Kraft cheese slice, IME. Or even just a no-cheese burger. He's modest in his tastes really.

Thankyou for your lucid and eloquent contribution.

If that's the case, then I would be interested in your opinion of modern dairylea slices. I fear that the relentless removal of salt and E numbers has destroyed much of its classical flavour profile leaving it a flaccid shadow of its former self.
Sad times

I agree with you about not being able to separate the art from the artist. Woody Allen springs to mind. Michael Jackson too. I love the HP books - and the Strike & Robin books - so I am extremely happy that she supports women’s rights.

I also agree with your take on the film.

Dominic McLaughlin seems to be good actor - he has such an expressive face. The other two also seem good, although there wasn’t much of them in the trailer, at least not much dialogue. I like the music. Visually, it’s a bit dark for me but it’s the trend these days, unfortunately.

Except she isn't a protector of women's rights - she's a protector of the rights of women who she perceives as women.
She's actually called me out for being trans on twitter, just because I don't look how she thinks women should look.
I've personally birthed and breast fed 3 children - but I don't look traditionally feminine so no I don't support her views as protecting women's rights!

its time for a change with Harry Potter, and I hope this TV series beats the original movies. I also live in hope they actually have Peeves the Poltegeist in it as a character. They took him out of the original movie Philosphers Stone and never had him back.

Nonsense. She's a protector of all womens rights -' the only condition for being included as a woman is to be an adult human female.