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Queer Director Ally Pankiw Shows Turning Down Harry Potter Is as Simple as One Text
Дата публикации: 13-08-2026 17:25:40
Queer writer and director Ally Pankiw is showing that it’s pretty easy, actually, to not pursue work on the Harry Potter television series.In an Instagram post on August 13, the I Used to Be Funny director posted screenshots of a text exchange with an apparent member of her team, who writes, “I have an instinct on the answer but I feel compelled to ask. Harry Potter? Hard no?” Pankiw then responds: “Absolutely f**king not! lol. (But thank you for asking).”Reached for comment by Them, Pankiw said the message was a soft-check from her team to “check if I would interview for or be open to directing on the second season.”“It was not a hard job offer that I turned down, but more the opportunity to meet or interview,” she wrote. “But honestly, I didn’t investigate further!”The show, which will begin airing its first season on HBO Max this coming Christmas Day and has already been renewed for a second season, is executive produced by J.K. Rowling, who bankrolls anti-transgender legal causes through her own fund. Since 2020, when she published a lengthy statement on the subject to her personal website, Rowling herself has become an outspoken opponent of trans equality in the U.K. and more broadly, routinely posting about trans issues online in eye-catching ways.That has made it especially difficult for fans to see beloved actors, many of whom consider themselves LGBTQ+ allies, accept roles in the televised reboot of Rowling’s fantasy franchise.In the past week alone, Bel Powley, who is set to play Petunia Dursley in Harry Potter, said that she “strongly disagrees” with Rowling on trans issues while Nosferatu star Nicholas Hoult has faced backlash for accepting a role in season two as Gilderoy Lockhart. Previously, John Lithgow, Nick Frost, Keira Knightley, and more have all made varying comments on Rowling’s political views after their respective casting announcements.Pankiw told Them she would like to see more people in Hollywood adopt her firm stance against the project. “The more artists working at a high level who refuse to engage in work for companies that hurt marginalized communities — whether that’s companies who support and fund transphobes or the losers pushing A.I. on us — the more those companies will realize that maybe these investments are not as worth it as they thought,” she said.“Also if they weren’t making the new Harry Potter series, imagine the funding — I would imagine like, millions and millions and like just so much money? — that would be freed up for other shows and creative by new and diverse voices,” she added.In addition to her Rachel Sennott-starring feature debut, Pankiw has previously directed on Feel Good, Shrill, The Great, Ponies, and Black Mirror — an impressive résumé that would certainly put her name in contention for directing jobs on other high-profile series. And in another universe where J.K. Rowling didn’t suddenly veer into anti-trans politics, it might have been a dream for her to work on Harry Potter.“I was a huge, huge Harry Potter fan growing up, so it’s also a sad thing to have to turn down creating in a world that meant so much to so many people,” she told Them. “And to think that J.K. Rowling might be mad at me is… wild, but in light of her hate campaign, also kinda thrilling!”Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s newsletters.
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Queer writer and director Ally Pankiw is showing that it’s pretty easy, actually, to not pursue work on the Harry Potter television series.
In an Instagram post on August 13, the I Used to Be Funny director posted screenshots of a text exchange with an apparent member of her team, who writes, “I have an instinct on the answer but I feel compelled to ask. Harry Potter? Hard no?” Pankiw then responds: “Absolutely f**king not! lol. (But thank you for asking).”
Reached for comment by Them, Pankiw said the message was a soft-check from her team to “check if I would interview for or be open to directing on the second season.”
“It was not a hard job offer that I turned down, but more the opportunity to meet or interview,” she wrote. “But honestly, I didn’t investigate further!”
The show, which will begin airing its first season on HBO Max this coming Christmas Day and has already been renewed for a second season, is executive produced by J.K. Rowling, who bankrolls anti-transgender legal causes through her own fund. Since 2020, when she published a lengthy statement on the subject to her personal website, Rowling herself has become an outspoken opponent of trans equality in the U.K. and more broadly, routinely posting about trans issues online in eye-catching ways.
That has made it especially difficult for fans to see beloved actors, many of whom consider themselves LGBTQ+ allies, accept roles in the televised reboot of Rowling’s fantasy franchise.
In the past week alone, Bel Powley, who is set to play Petunia Dursley in Harry Potter, said that she “strongly disagrees” with Rowling on trans issues while Nosferatu star Nicholas Hoult has faced backlash for accepting a role in season two as Gilderoy Lockhart. Previously, John Lithgow, Nick Frost, Keira Knightley, and more have all made varying comments on Rowling’s political views after their respective casting announcements.
Pankiw told Them she would like to see more people in Hollywood adopt her firm stance against the project. “The more artists working at a high level who refuse to engage in work for companies that hurt marginalized communities — whether that’s companies who support and fund transphobes or the losers pushing A.I. on us — the more those companies will realize that maybe these investments are not as worth it as they thought,” she said.
“Also if they weren’t making the new Harry Potter series, imagine the funding — I would imagine like, millions and millions and like just so much money? — that would be freed up for other shows and creative by new and diverse voices,” she added.
In addition to her Rachel Sennott-starring feature debut, Pankiw has previously directed on Feel Good, Shrill, The Great, Ponies, and Black Mirror — an impressive résumé that would certainly put her name in contention for directing jobs on other high-profile series. And in another universe where J.K. Rowling didn’t suddenly veer into anti-trans politics, it might have been a dream for her to work on Harry Potter.
“I was a huge, huge Harry Potter fan growing up, so it’s also a sad thing to have to turn down creating in a world that meant so much to so many people,” she told Them. “And to think that J.K. Rowling might be mad at me is… wild, but in light of her hate campaign, also kinda thrilling!”
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s newsletters.
Samantha Allen. Samantha Allen is the managing editor of Them. She is the author of Patricia Wants to Cuddle, the... Read more
Managing Editor
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