Is JK Rowling ‘too big to be cancelled’?
When JK Rowling dared police to arrest her for challenging Scotland’s new hate crime law, one outcome was assured – the multi-billion pound Harry Potter brand continues to be a licence to print money whatever controversy surrounds her vocal campaigns.
The author, whose controversial posts this week will not be treated as criminal by police, has become one of the few public figures who appear to be “too big to cancel”, due to the enduring appeal of her wizarding franchise for big business.
Accused of transphobia for her deeply divisive views on gender, Ms Rowling has faced calls for a boycott of Harry Potter, from its books and movies to the blockbuster video game Hogwarts Legacy.
Potter movie actors including Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson joined the backlash, criticising Ms Rowling’s comments.
Younger staff members at her publishers Hachette threatened to down tools and refuse to work on her book, The Ickabog, in protest at her views.
Ms Rowling has said she is not concerned about how the backlash to her position on transgender issues will affect her legacy and that anyone who thinks she is has “profoundly” misunderstood her.
Despite her current standing as one of the most divisive figures in popular culture, Ms Rowling, who rejects any transphobia accusations, has seen her fortunes only rise.
Her wealth soared by £25m to £875m last year with entertainment giants from the BBC to Warner Bros Discovery standing by the writer, after a period in which her value appeared to “wobble”, insiders claim.
“The lowest point was the Harry Potter TV reunion. JK stayed away,” one film source said of the 2022 special, commissioned by Warner’s HBO Max streaming platform, bringing together Mr Radcliffe and other stars of the film franchise to mark 20 years since the series launched with The Philosopher’s Stone.
The Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts films were paused after the third instalment flopped in 2022, with some blaming its association with Ms Rowling.
Facing internal unrest over her vocal support for gender-critical beliefs, Warner issued a statement saying it was the company’s “responsibility to foster empathy and advocate understanding of all communities and all people, particularly those we work with”.
Given that the original Potter film franchise alone generated $7.7bn (£6.2bn) for Warner between 2001 and 2011, Ms Rowling might have expected a stronger statement of support.
The mood changed with the arrival of media executive David Zaslav as head of the newly-merged Warner Bros Discovery.
“He realised Warner needed a major new TV streaming franchise to take on Disney,” the insider said. “Harry Potter was the obvious choice. But he needed to get JK back on board because she has control over every brand extension.”
Warner was emboldened by the huge response to the reunion special and figures showing that the Potterverse remains impregnable, despite the rows surrounding Ms Rowling.
The Harry Potter tour at the Leavesden film lot, owned by Warner Bros Discovery, generated revenues of £149m from studio tour bookings and merchandise sales last year — up from its pre-Covid levels of £133m in 2019.
Bloomsbury, Ms Rowling’s publisher, reported record profits in the first half of 2023, driven by a boom in fantasy fiction, with new US bestseller Sarah J Maas working her magic alongside Ms Rowling’s 600 million-selling backlist.
Pottermore, the global digital audiobook and eBook publisher of the Potter series and associated titles from the Wizarding World, said its pre-tax profits rose to £9.4m in 2023, up from £5.7m the previous year.
Stage show Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has recovered from its Covid closure and is playing on Broadway, Hamburg, Toronto, Tokyo and Melbourne. The West End show is booking to March 2025.
Convinced that Ms Rowling’s empire remained robust, Mr Zaslav flew to the UK to pitch her his masterplan – a new, decade-long Harry Potter television series exploring each of the original novels in depth, with Ms Rowling taking the key role of executive producer.
The author embraced the concept, announced last year, with Warner accepting that giving Ms Rowling such a prominent role in the big-budget enterprise is likely to mean the studio faces protests from trans activists and allies.
Casey Bloys, chairman and chief executive of HBO and streamer HBO Max, rejected suggestions that producers will struggle to find cast members because of Ms Rowling’s involvement.
He said: “We’ve been in the Harry Potter business for 20 years, this isn’t a new decision. We’re comfortable being in the Potter business.”
The first series is expected to drop in 2026 and there is no expectation that Ms Rowling will tone down her campaigns, despite the challenges they might cause for Warner’s marketing department.
Corporations which might normally distance themselves from public figures who face “cancellation” for offending minority groups are standing by Ms Rowling.
Hachette pulled rank on its staff, saying it was “proud to publish” The Ickabog, citing “freedom of expression” as a cornerstone of publishing.
The BBC is currently shooting season six of Strike, the detective novels published by Ms Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
A ratings winner for the BBC, the broadcaster is expecting additional scrutiny of the new episodes which adapt The Ink Black Heart, the novel which echoes Ms Rowling’s situation with the inclusion of a character accused of transphobia.
The BBC has had to apologise twice to Ms Rowling after guests on news shows accused her of being transphobic.
The author has seized control of her own narrative by appearing on the podcast The Witch Trials of JK Rowling, claiming that she is not concerned that the backlash will affect her legacy and that anyone who thinks she is transphobic has “profoundly” misunderstood her.
She has said her stance stems from her experience of sexual assault and domestic abuse, writing in 2020: “When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman… you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside.”
With new generations discovering Hogwarts every year, Ms Rowling’s legacy appears secure despite the controversy.
Parents disappointed with Ms Rowling’s stance will struggle to dissuade their children from dressing up as their heroes on World Book Day.
The network of deals entwining Ms Rowling with Warner Bros is understood to include agreements that her estate will have a decisive say over any Potter entities created after her death.
Despite angering the trans community and losing some fans over her remarks, Ms Rowling and her most famous creation are set for a lucrative future.
Representatives of Ms Rowling declined to comment.
