Rowling had the idea for Harry Potter while on a delayed train to London King’s Cross in 1990, and over the next five years began to plan out the books in the series.
The first book, Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, was published in 1997.
Since then, more than 500 million copies of the books have been sold worldwide in over 80 languages, and the beloved character has made it to the silver screen as well as being transformed into a theatre show.
Speaking to Rowling on BBC Radio Two on Saturday, presenter Claudia Winkleman asked whether the writer might put on a Gryffindor gown and “celebrate big time” or have cheese on toast and watch a box set for the anniversary.
READ MORE: Harry Potter author reveals why she did not use her full name
Laughing, Rowling replied: “Now you’ve reminded me of that, I think I probably will have cheese on toast, but I might open a bottle champagne and have some champagne with my cheese on toast.
“I probably won’t dress up. That brings me back to, in the early days of Potter, every photographer wanted me to put on a witch’s hat and it just drove me crazy.”
The world-famous writer said she is “very bad” at having her photograph taken.
She said: “I’m particularly bad if someone gives me a prop to play with, or a hat to put on. I just look embarrassed and awful.”
Rowling’s latest book, The Christmas Pig, inspired by her son’s love for a toy pig he had as a child, is due out next week.
READ MORE:Harry Potter star Robbie Coltrane defends JK Rowling over trans row
She is hopeful it will “lead to interesting conversations between adults and children”, adding that it deals with “some quite weighty themes”.
During the interview, in which she also answered questions from members of the public, she was asked which was the one book she wished she had written.
Choosing A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, she described it as “utter writing perfection”.
“It’s an idea of such pure genius,” she said.
“I think A Christmas Carol is the perfect Christmas story. I don’t think any of us are ever going to surpass that.”
This November will be the 20th anniversary of the film franchise. Unfortunately, the 31-year-old actor says there are “no plans at the moment” to do a special reunion to celebrate the event.
“I’m in the Dominican Republic at the moment filming and then I’m going to be busy, kind of working on bits and pieces until the end of the year,” Radcliffe tells ET’s Lauren Zima while promoting season 3 of Miracle Workers. “So yeah, I don’t know. I’m sure there will be some sort of celebration but I don’t know if we will be getting together or anything. I’m sorry if that’s a bit of a disappointment to anyone.”
The eight-film franchise spanned from 2001 to 2011. While Radcliffe admits that he hasn’t seen the movie “since they first came out,” he did say he’s come across them while flipping channels.
“I’ve seen bits on TV for seconds before I go, ‘Uh!’ Or if it’s a scene that someone else is in I’ll go, ‘Oh, cool,'” he shares, before reflecting on some of his best memories on the set. “But yeah, I have really, really fond memories of all my scenes with Gary Oldman and David Thewlis. They were some of the first scenes on the third and the fifth film where I started to feel like I was a young man who was just starting to figure out what acting was, and they were pretty cool people to be around.”
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As for one of his favorite scenes to film, it came while shooting the fourth movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when Harry competed in the Triwizard Tournament.
“They let me do the craziest stunt I was ever able to do. It was like a 40 foot fall down on a roof. I was on a wire, but I was properly in free fall. It was only there to catch me at the end. And I was absolutely terrified,” Radcliffe recalls. “I worked a lot with the stunt department by then, and they were like, ‘You can do this. Do you want to try it?’ And I said yes. But then I got up there and was absolutely terrified.”
“That was one of the things and we did it like two or three times, but it was for the fourth film,” he continues. “I’ve realized since that that was very special circumstances in that set and I will never be allowed to do something like that again.”
People continue to enjoy the franchise and have been reenacting Harry Potter scenes on Tik Tok, especially the chess moment with Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint). “That’s a really hard one to reenact. That’s like one of the craziest sets we had! That’s great,” Radcliffe says of the online love, adding he hasn’t watched the reenactments. “[But] I will try and see some of them then. That’s good.”
Radcliffe, meanwhile, co-stars alongside Steve Buscemi on the TBS anthology series Miracle Workers. Season 3, dubbed Oregon Trail, takes place in the American West circa 1844, following a group of travelers on the famous trail.
While Radcliffe didn’t get to share the screen with Buscemi on the Potter films, he could see him as one special character.
“I feel like he would’ve been a pretty good Sirius. Unfortunately, you are too young for Dumbledore,” Radcliffe tells Buscemi in the same interview. “But one day you could have that quality, that sort of kind, warmth and all of that. I don’t know, I think there are many roles for Steve in Potter.”
Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail sees Radcliffe as reverend Ezekiel Brown, while Buscemi is the outlaw Benny the Teen. Radcliffe remembers playing the computer game when he was younger, while Buscemi “was totally unaware of video games in the ’90s.”
“I heard Dan and a few of our cast members talking about the video game and I had no idea what they were talking about,” the actor confesses to ET, with Radcliffe adding that he would go to a typing course when he was eight or nine. “They would let you play like 20 minutes of Oregon Trail and it was the highlight of everyday and it was great. I was very, very bad at it.”
As for playing an outlaw, Buscemi couldn’t have been happier. He credits the playfulness of the character to his incredible cast.
“What was fun about playing Benny the Teen was, I think he really enjoys being an outlaw. Yeah he gets frustrated when he’s not recognized or if people sort of joke about him being too old to still be called Benny the Teen. But that all just adds to the fun of having all this richness in the character to play with,” he explains. “And then getting to be with our cast. Now this is the third season and we really feel like a company, like this ensemble, and the fact that we get to play different roles each season and in different settings, it was pretty exciting.”
Radcliffe, meanwhile, teases that the trail will end up taking a toll on his holy character, sharing, “By the time you get to the end of the season he has fallen so far in terms of like, the Oregon trail takes a toll on [him]. It really is a test of faith and of his rigid morality.”
From being in heaven to the dark ages, the third season of Miracle Workers is one of the best, Buscemi marvels.
“I think each season keeps getting better. I certainly loved it and give it a try,” he says, with Radcliffe adding, “I should probably mention that there is a dance scene in one of the episodes that is absolutely Top 5 one of the most insane things I have ever filmed. So yeah, tune into that as well.”
Miracle Workers premieres July 13 on TBS.
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In an era where the streaming wars are only growing more cutthroat all the time, big franchises matter. WarnerMedia is bringing one of its biggest weapons to bear on HBO Max, as we’ve learned the company is in the very early stages of developing a Harry Potter series for its flagship streaming service. We don’t yet know what the series is about or when in the Potter timeline it’ll be set, but at long last, Harry Potter is headed to TV. And that’s exactly what the franchise needs at this point.
Much like how Star Wars has thrived thanks to shows like The Mandalorian and The Clone Wars, the Harry Potter franchise could easily find its second wind on the small screen. Read on to find out why streaming TV, not theatrical Blockbusters, is the way forward for Harry Potter.
Fantastic Beasts: Time For a Change
Despite the original Harry Potter series having concluded ten years ago in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Warner Bros. is still keeping the franchise alive on the big screen. So far, two films in the Fantastic Beasts prequel series have been released, with a third currently in production and creator JK Rowling hinting at a five-film series overall. Plus, many fans are assuming it’s only a matter of time before Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a stage play that continues the saga several decades down the road, will eventually be adapted as a feature film.
Still, it’s hard to argue the franchise hasn’t seen some of the wind go out of its magical sails in recent years. The Fantastic Beasts movies are neither the critical nor commercial smashes the core Potter movies were. 2018’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald currently ranks as the lowest-grossing Harry Potter movies to date, as well as being the only one to earn a “rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It doesn’t help that the franchise is so strongly associated with behind-the-scenes controversy nowadays, whether it’s Johnny Depp’s legal troubles or Rowling’s unfortunate history of transphobic writing.
Warners is still moving forward with the third Fantastic Beasts movie, even going so far as to replace Depp with Mads Mikkelsen as the villainous Grindelwald. Production finally began on the untitled third movie in September 2020, with a planned release date of July 15, 2022. But as for whether the fourth and fifth movies will still materialize, that remains to be seen. Given the bad mojo surrounding the series and the diminishing box office returns, Warner Bros. may opt to cut their losses and give the Potter franchise a fresh, clean slate. And what better way to do that than pivot from film to television?
It’s a pivot that’s certainly worked in the Star Wars franchise’s favor. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is generally regarded as an underwhelming conclusion to Disney’s sequel trilogy. Nor was Solo: A Star Wars Story a major critical or commercial success. By comparison, The Mandalorian is the first Star Wars project of the Disney era that’s managed to cross party lines and please the vast majority of fans. While it’s tougher to gauge the success of streaming projects without hard figures, the widespread critical acclaim and the massive popularity of Mandalorian-themed merchandise both suggest the series has been a big hit for Lucasfilm and Disney. And with spinoffs like Rangers of the New Republic, Ahsoka and The Book of Boba Fett in the works, it’s clear Disney is going all-in with Star Wars TV projects even while the next movie is years away.
It’s not hard to imagine the Potter franchise finding similar success shifting away from the big screen and toward streaming TV. Both the Fantastic Beasts movies and the Cursed Child play have their detractors. A TV series offers Warner Bros. a chance to wipe the slate and start fresh without all of the baggage of those other projects. Handled properly, the first Harry Potter series could inspire a whole wave of spinoffs just as The Mandalorian has. This isn’t to suggest the franchise can immediately shed the various controversies surrounding it, but it would be a start.
A Wide Open Timeline
There are many reasons the Harry Potter books struck such a chord with readers, but the massive, fully realized fantasy world they reveal is certainly among them. The seven books take place roughly over the course of seven years, as Harry becomes inducted into the Wizarding World and makes his way through Hogwarts. Even though the series ends on a definitive note, as Harry conquers his nemesis Voldemort and frees the world from magical tyranny, it’s clear we’ve only seen a small piece of a much larger tapestry. The magical community existed for centuries before Harry came along, and it will continue to exist long after he’s become nothing more than a snoozing painting on a castle wall.
There’s so much of the Wizarding World left to cover, and even the Fantastic Beasts movies are barely scratching the surface in that regard. Many fans would love to see a Marauders series – a show that covers the youthful exploits of James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin and shows a very different side of Severus Snape. That premise alone justifies a streaming series – one where each season could chronicle another year at Hogwarts. In the process, fans would find out what it was like to live during Voldemort’s original rise to power. Perhaps even more importantly, the series could transform Harry’s parents from ghostly mentor figures to actual, fully realized characters.
That’s just one option on the table. The series could also be set after the Potter movies but before the events of Cursed Child, chronicling Harry’s journey toward becoming an Auror and his role in rebuilding a government brought to its knees by the Death Eaters. That would also provide an opportunity to introduce new threats and villains who aren’t members of the Voldemort or Grindelwald clans.
The series could even take the opportunity to veer far away from the characters and locales of the movies. The Fantastic Beasts movies have taken a more multicultural approach, with the first taking place largely in New York, the second in Paris and the third reportedly in Rio de Janeiro. Even so, these films only have so much room to showcase these new locations amid all the emphasis on Newt Scamander and friends. There would be a real novelty in a series that sheds light on what it’s like to attend wizarding school in the US or Japan or Kenya.
In short, there’s a reason they call it the “Wizarding World,” and there’s only so much Warners can do to capitalize on that world with one theatrical movie released every few years.
Characters Over Spectacle
If there’s one reason for the Potter series to pivot to a TV series over movies, it’s the characters. Fans need well-rounded heroes they can identify with, or else all the wand-waving and beast-catching is just empty spectacle. That’s arguably the greatest flaw weighing down the Fantastic Beasts series compared to its predecessor. It’s difficult to connect with bumbling collector Newt Scamander and his friends in the same way it was so easy with Harry, Ron and Hermione. It doesn’t really help that the Fantastic Beasts movies are based on what’s basically an in-universe zoology book. The source material has no real narrative or cast of characters to adapt, so it’s the titular beasts themselves who tend to steal the show.
A Harry Potter series would have a valuable opportunity to really dig in with these characters in a way none of the movies have been able to do. As faithful as the core Harry Potter movies are, there’s inevitably wide swaths of material that gets cut when you try to condense the story of an entire school year into a two or three-hour film. Even in the books, supporting characters like Cho Chang, Dean Thomas, the Patil sisters and the extended Weasley family aren’t terribly well developed. But in the movies, they’re often little more than background cameo roles.
There’s an argument to be made for treating the HBO Max series as a full-fledged Harry Potter reboot and exploring the events of the books in far greater depth. That doesn’t seem the most likely option, given the enduring popularity of the movies and WarnerMedia’s habit of using HBO Max as a platform fr spinoffs of Blockbuster movies (Dune: The Sisterhood, Gotham PD, Peacemaker, etc.). Still, it would certainly be an interesting move. Nor is there reason to worry about the series’ ability to replicate the scale and special effects quality of the movies. If The Mandalorian has proven anything, it’s that it’s no longer cost-prohibitive to tackle truly cinematic stories in a small screen format.
A true Harry Potter reboot is likely still much farther down the pipeline for Warners. But whenever and wherever the HBO Max series takes place, the hope is it’ll be able to flesh out its cast to a much greater degree. We’ve gotten more than enough movies about Chosen Ones battling the forces of darkness. What about the other 99% of characters who make their way in the Wizarding World without the benefit of prophecies or the watchful eye of Albus Dumbledore? Who else has magic worth conjuring and a story worth telling? It’s about time we found that out.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
Grab your quidditch brooms and butterbeer, because this costume is about to make all of your Harry Potter dreams come true.
Every Halloween, there are people that celebrate the right way—in Harry Potter-themed costumes, of course—and then there are muggles. This year, Tom Felton joined in on the fun, but we’re pretty sure Draco Malfoy would not be too pleased with his costume choice.
Felton posted to Instagram on Nov. 1 showing off his Harry Potter costume to his nearly 11 million followers with the caption, “wtf dad?” In true Gryffindor fashion, he showed bravery and courage by abandoning his Slytherin house for the scary holiday.
From the glasses to the scar, Felton pulled off a pretty spot-on Harry Potter impression. Although he’s missing Hedwig, his adorable dog Willow wore a Gryffindor scarf, so we’ll take it.
Warner Bros. has officially announced the title of its upcoming Harry Potter quiz show. Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses will be a four-part series, presented by Dame Helen Mirren.
The quiz show, which celebrates the 20th anniversary of the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone, will award the winner the title of House Cup champion. To win, contestants will need to prove themselves the most knowledgeable about the Wizarding World across hundreds of trivia questions.
“Special guest surprises” are promised, hinting at actors from the film series, but the show will be fronted by Helen Mirren, one of Britain’s most famous actresses, and a surprising omission from the star-studded British cast of the Harry Potter movies. “I knew someday I’d get a Harry Potter role, and I’m so pleased to take part in the 20-year film celebration,” said Mirren in a press release. “The films inspired such enchantment and wonder for so many of us, and it will be such a treat to reignite that magic for the countless fans who continue to revel in this spellbinding world.”
The four-part show is due to be filmed later this month, and will premiere later this year on both Cartoon Network’s ACME Night and TBS. It will then be made available on HBO Max.
Earlier this year there were reports of a Harry Potter series being planned for HBO Max. It’s unclear if that show is, in fact, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses, or if there are/were plans for a scripted drama set in the Wizarding World. At the time Warner denied that any Harry Potter show was in development, but the company has noted its interest in expanding the franchise beyond the film series and its Fantastic Beasts spin-off.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer.
SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) — British actor Tom Felton, known for his portrayal of Draco Malfoy in the “Harry Potter” movies, collapsed while playing a celebrity golf exhibition Thursday at the Ryder Cup.
Ryder Cup organizers said only that Felton experienced “a medical incident” at Whistling Straits and was taken to a local hospital for treatment. They provided no other information.
Felton was on the 18th hole when he went down. He was helped to his feet, placed on a stretcher and driven away in a golf cart. He turned 34 on Wednesday.
Felton was representing Europe in the celebrity match, which is held the day before the U.S. and Europe start the Ryder Cup.
He has appeared in a number of movies, most notably eight films in the “Harry Potter” series.
Members of transgender and non-binary communities say they’re seeing concerning signs that transphobic ideology is worsening in Canada.
Anti-trans sentiments are not new to the country, but several factors make this moment in time fraught, say activists and educators. That’s despite the fact that the federal government moved to protect the rights of transgender people in 2017 with the passing ofBill C-16, which made gender identity and expression a protected human rights category.
“The climate for trans people has improved in the last decade very considerably, but we’re definitely starting to feel some of those waves of anti-trans activism that have really taken hold in the United Kingdom and in the United States in recent years,” said Travers, a professor of sociology at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C, who goes by one name.
Recent media coverage, including a story by the CTV News investigative program W5 and opinion columns published by theToronto Star andCBC, have been criticized by some members of the transgender community for pushing transphobic ideas and misrepresenting the dangers they face daily, which, according to Statistics Canada, includeviolence and poor mental health due to discrimination.
Among the concerning messages, say critics, are assertions that trans people who have not undergone transition-related surgery are not real men or women or that falsely paint trans women as dangerous men. Similarideas have been spreading in the U.K. for years.
British authorJ.K. Rowling, for example, has made comments blurring sex (biological characteristics) and gender (personal identity) to push back against inclusive terms such as “people who menstruate,” which Rowling sees as an erosion of women’s rights.
People attend a walkout in Los Angeles organized by members of the transgender employees group at Netflix. The streaming giant has stood by the Chappelle comedy special despite criticism that some of its content is anti-trans. (Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)
Last month, American comedian Dave Chappelle in his Netflix special defended Rowling’s comments,prompting a walkout by the streaming company’s transgender staff and their allies. In the special, Chappelle declares, “I’m team TERF,” referring to the term trans-exclusionary radical feminists, which is used to describe people who see trans rights as not aligned with women’s rights.
“There have always been feminists who support trans inclusion, and there’s been a vocal minority of people who identify as feminists who view trans inclusion as a step backward for feminist movements. I find this very puzzling, I won’t lie,” said Travers. “It’s a very hateful message.”
Many trans people view the singular focus on biological sex as transphobic. Rowling and others who share similar views reject that label.
“My life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe it’s hateful to say so,” the author of the Harry Potter series said in 2020.
WATCH | Trans people shouldn’t be ‘fodder’ for comedy, experts say after Chappelle special:Courtney Skye, research fellow for the Yellowhead Institute, and Syrus Marcus Ware, artist and scholar, discuss how Dave Chappelle’s latest special could harm the trans community by using them as a punch line for his jokes. 15:56
Members of trans community ‘exhausted’
In anopinion column in the Toronto Star, columnist Rosie DiManno was critical of the use of inclusive language in health care, such as using the term “pregnant people” instead of “pregnant women” to acknowledge that trans men and nonbinary people can also get pregnant. Di Manno claimed the adoption of such terms was “trans activism run amok.”
In aCBC opinion piece last month, Jessica Triff, a trans woman, shared her view that activism around trans rights was becoming “toxic.” In that column, she claimed instances of trans women who haven’t medically transitioned using women’s spaces, such as gender-specific bathrooms or women’s prisons and shelters, have “proven problematic.” Critics of that view say such positioning undermines many trans identities and falsely frames trans women as being inherently dangerous to other women when accessing such spaces.
Christian Wright, the founder of the student advocacy group Rainbow Carleton in Ottawa, says while the piece was written by a trans woman, it doesn’t mean its rhetoric isn’t transphobic.
“Can gay people be homophobic? Yes. Can women be anti-feminist? Yes,” Wright said.
“Every trans person is ultimately at the end of the day, an individual. They have their own thoughts, feelings, experiences. Her opinions and her points of view are hers.”
Anna Murphy is a trans woman and LGBTQ activist who lives in Calgary. (Tom Barker)
Anna Murphy, a trans woman in Calgary and an LGBTQ activist, said seeing transphobic ideas get traction is worrying.
“I’m heartbroken because I recognize what seeing that in the media, or seeing that message or seeing that narrative, does to … those kids who are, literally, honestly just trying to go out and be welcomed and safe and affirmed in the world,” she said.
Murphy says trans and non-binary people already face barriers and that transphobic ideas could erode support and make their lives more difficult.
Progress takes time, but it should not end with us going back in time.– Anna Murphy, trans woman and LGBTQ activist
“We’re exhausted,” said Murphy. “We’re exhausted from constantly having to debate our existence. We’re exhausted by constantly having to self-advocate in the face of ignorance.”
Wright said there was a period of time where it felt like trans rights and visibility in Canada were improving — but that’s shifting.
“Maybe we were a bit naive to think that,” said Wright.
“Maybe we should have listened to community leaders who were telling us that the fight isn’t even close to over.”
In an email to CBC News, the Toronto Star’s director of communications, Bob Hepburn, wrote: “The Star, like other news organizations, gives its columnist wide latitude to express their opinions.”
Hepburn noted that the paper published twocolumns following DiManno’s, includinga column by Florence Ashley who is quoted in this article.
About Triff’s column, CBC’s head of public affairs, Chuck Thompson, said in an email: “This is an opinion piece, and like any of them, we fully acknowledge and respect that not everyone will share the point of view presented.”
Gender-affirming health care portrayed as dangerous
Narratives presenting gender transition as dangerous have become more prevalent in international reporting, according to Kinnon MacKinnon, an assistant professor in the school of social work at York University in Toronto and a trans health-care researcher.
Stories of individuals who detransitioned — when a trans person stops a medical transition, or stops identifying as trans — commonly show up in British media, he said. By focusing on the minority of individuals who have detransitioned, particularly as a result of regret about their initial transition, media stories, including the one by W5, imply it’s a common phenomenon when, in fact, it’s rare.
The W5 story included the perspective of an Ontario man, 20, who had transitioned and found it life-saving but also featured two individuals from the U.K. expressing regret over transitioning.
“The U.K. has been, for a number of years, using the stories of detransition and a very limited sample of detransitioners to invalidate trans identities in a very alarmist, sort of canary-in-the-coal-mine manner,” said MacKinnon.
Bell Media, the parent company of CTV News, did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.
Recent media coverage makes ‘people feel a sense of being targeted,’ says Kinnon MacKinnon, an assistant professor in the school of social work at York University in Toronto and a researcher on transgender health care and those who have detransitioned. (Submitted by Kinnon MacKinnon)
MacKinnon, who is currently leading research on the topic, said an analysisof the available data suggests that only around one per cent of people who undergo gender-affirming surgery express regret. MacKinnon says that for some, detransitioning is part of a journey to better understand their gender identity.
An analysis recently published in the peer-reviewed journal LGBT Health of more than 17,000 individuals who reported they had transitioned — which may or may not include surgery — found that around 13 per cent had detransitioned at some point.
The authors noted that, in the majority of cases, approximately 83 per cent, respondents identified external sources for their decision to detransition, including pressure from family and social stigma. Nearly 16 per cent of respondents reported at least one internal driving factor, such as fluctuations in or uncertainty in their gender identity.
Beyond the media, some anti-trans activists also claim that aspects of gender-affirming health-care practices are damaging to young people. For example, the website of one Canadian group claims puberty-blocking drugs, which some young patients may be prescribed to halt puberty-related development, will lead to “sterilization and loss of sexual function and pleasure.”
“When you hear, ‘People want to sterilize your children,’ you get people concerned, but it’s not a representation of the truth,” Wright said.
The consequence of misinformation and anti-trans narratives, says MacKinnon, is that access to gender-affirming health care, including hormones and surgeries that could benefit the well-being of those experiencing gender dysphoria, risks being limited or cut.
WATCH | Families in Arkansas fear losing access to gender-affirming care:Some families of transgender kids in Arkansas fear they will be forced to leave the state if they want their children to keep receiving hormone treatments or puberty blockers after a ban on those treatments for minors. 5:16
New legislation called regressive
Shifts on the political landscape also have members of trans communities on edge.
The Quebec government last month announced Bill 2, which wouldamend the province’s family law and create separate designations for sex and gender identity on official documentation. The bill would also limit changing sex identifiers to those who have medically transitioned.
“The bill outs trans people,” said Florence Ashley, a jurist and PhD in bioethics at the University of Toronto.
Ashley says if the bill passes, separate gender identity markers would typically only apply to those who are trans.
“It promotes this idea that trans people aren’t really the sex that they claim to be,” Ashley said.
Florence Ashley is a trans-feminine jurist, bioethicist and a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto’s faculty of law and Joint Centre for Bioethics. (Submitted by Florence Ashley)
The proposed legislation comes in the wake of aQuebec Superior Court decision forcing the province to reword parts of the Civil Code that discriminate against transgender and non-binary individuals.
The court also ruled that non-binary Quebecers must be given the right to change the sex designation on a birth certificate to match their gender identity.
“There’s really a fear of this law passing,” said Ashley. “And there’s also the sense of like, ‘Wow, the government is so disconnected from the realities of trans people that we can’t really trust them to protect our rights.'”
LISTEN | Quebec artists denounce Bill 2:A new Quebec bill that would restrict trans people and their right to get their sex designation changed on government ID is getting a lot of criticism. Alison speaks with a trans artist in Montreal who signed an open letter denouncing Bill 2. 9:11
Anti-trans voices disproportionately harmful
Ashley says that anti-trans voices have an outsized impact on the transgender community.
“The problem is the people who are inclusive of trans people … mostly, in practice, have a neutral impact on the lives of trans people,” they said.
“The best that they do is not be transphobic, not interfere with the well-being of trans people, whereas the people who are against trans people are very negatively impacting them.”
Freedom of expression is important, says Anna Murphy, but it’s necessary to hold people accountable if they’re promoting harmful ideas.
“Trans women are women; trans men are men,” she said.
“If people can just keep that in their minds and go forward with that thought, then, you know, we might get somewhere. Progress takes time, but it should not end with us going back in time.”
From the moment Harry sat beneath it on his first day at Hogwarts determinedly muttering ‘not Slytherin, not Slytherin’, fans have clamored to be Sorted themselves. Thanks to the Official Sorting Ceremony on WizardingWorld.com and the Harry Potter Fan Club app, fans can answer those all-important questions and find out exactly where they belong. In celebration of the first film’s 20th Anniversary, Wizarding World invites everyone to share their house pride and nominate others to do the same!
How to get involved:
Download the free Harry Potter Fan Club app and check out the Hogwarts Sorting Ceremony
Admire yourself wearing the AR Sorting Hat, and after snapping a selfie, make a short film explaining why you belong in your house before nominating and tagging a friend to join in
Share your prediction for which house they will be in, using the hashtag #SortingChallenge
Are they a proud Gryffindor, a resourceful Slytherin, a wise Ravenclaw or a loyal Hufflepuff – the only way to find out is to take the test and wait for their reply!
Joining in the fun and enabling fans get to know them a bit better, Harry Potter actors have been announcing their houses with pride. Warwick Davis, who famously played multiple roles within the Harry Potter films, but perhaps most loved for his ‘swish and flick’ demonstration as Professor Flitwick in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, has revealed he is in Ravenclaw after participating in the Sorting Ceremony.
Gryffindors around the world will be delighted to hear thatBonnie Wright, who played Harry’s eventual love interest Ginny Weasley and Alfred Enoch, known for playing Dean Thomas are both true to their characters and have been sorted into Gryffindor. While Tonks actressNatalia Tenaalso found herself in Hufflepuff after wearing the virtual Sorting Hat, joining her fellow house members who are known for their loyalty and hard-working nature.
Millions of members of the Harry Potter Fan Club community have been sorted to date, and now celebrity fans are also getting in on the action. Actor Jordan Fisher is a proud Ravenclaw and threw the challenge over to his wife, fellow actress Ellie Woods.
Diversity dancer and Kiss FM DJ Jordan Banjo nominated his co-host and fellow dancer Perri Kiely who is a huge fan of the Harry Potter films. Jordan, a proud Gryffindor guessed incorrectly that best friend Perri would be in Slytherin, due to them being natural opposites, but the Sorting Hat confirmed that Perri is in fact a Ravenclaw. Perri believes this is because he is “a little bit witty and a little bit eccentric”.
Hot on the heels of last month’s Back To Hogwarts livestream, the Wizarding World continues to provide fans of all ages with a host of ways to engage with the 20th anniversary celebration of the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone film; new exclusive content focused on 20 Magical Moments from the first film will be released every Wizarding Wednesday on WizardingWorld.com, including games, quizzes and secrets from the crew who brought it to life.
Follow along on social @WizardingWorld #SortingChallenge #20YearsofMovieMagic
Notes to editors:
The Harry Potter Fan Club app can be downloaded from the Apple store or the Google Play store
For more information, head to the 20th Anniversary Hub housed on WizardingWorld.com for the latest announcements: www.HarryPotterMovie20.com
House Traits:
Press contacts: Wizarding World Press Office at BCW [email protected] +44(0)7500918476
About Wizarding World:
In the years since Harry Potter was whisked from King’s Cross Station onto Platform nine and three quarters, his incredible adventures have left a unique and lasting mark on popular culture. Eight BlockbusterHarry Potter films based on the original stories by J.K. Rowling have brought the magical stories to life and today, the Wizarding World is recognised as one of the world’s best-loved brands.
Representing a vast interconnected universe, it also includes two epic Fantastic Beasts films, (the third releasing in 2022), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – the multi-award-winning stage-play, state-of-the-art video and mobile games from Portkey Games, innovative consumer products, thrilling live entertainment (including four theme park lands) and insightful exhibitions.
This expanding portfolio of Warner Bros. owned Wizarding World experiences also includes Harry Potter New York – a brand new flagship store, Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter, Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo, and the Platform 9 3⁄4 retail shops.
The Wizarding World continues to evolve to provide Harry Potter fans with fresh and exciting ways to engage. For the worldwide fan community, and for generations to come, it welcomes everyone in to explore and discover the magic for themselves.
The first of the “Harry Potter” series of books turns 25 this year, and will be celebrated with “Harry Potter: The Exhibition.” The show will stop in Philadelphia, Pa. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/TNS
