Highlights
- Bel Powley will play Petunia Dursley in HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series.
- The actor said she “strongly disagree[s]” with JK Rowling’s views on gender.
- Powley said she still loves the Harry Potter books, which she grew up reading.
Bel Powley has spoken about taking on the role of Petunia Dursley in HBO’s new Harry Potter series while disagreeing with JK Rowling’s views on gender. The actor said she supports the trans community and believes it deserves “safety and dignity and respect and total acceptance”.
Powley, who is 34, also made clear that her views on Rowling do not change her affection for the books, which she said she grew up with.
Bel Powley speaks about JK Rowling
Asked about the association between her new role and Rowling’s views, Powley said: “I strongly disagree with JK Rowling’s views on gender.”
She added: “I think that the trans community deserve safety and dignity and respect and total acceptance.”
Powley will play Petunia Dursley, Harry Potter’s Muggle aunt, in the upcoming HBO adaptation of Rowling’s books.
‘I love Harry Potter’
Despite her disagreement with Rowling, Powley said she remains a fan of the Harry Potter series.
“But I love Harry Potter. I grew up with the books. I am from that first generation of readers and, again, I love magic and spookiness,” she said.
Powley’s casting places her among the new generation of actors bringing Rowling’s characters to television, with the series set to revisit the story told across the original books.
Her comments come alongside new role
Powley is also starring in Sky’s supernatural thriller Possession, in which she plays Charlotte Connaught, the daughter of a wealthy British plantation owner in 18th-century Jamaica.
The actor said the series’ supernatural elements allow it to explore subjects such as slavery and historic injustice. She also discussed the difficult experience of filming a sexual violence scene for the series and credited an intimacy coordinator with helping her through it.
