Black Mirror director reveals brutal response when asked to join Harry Potter TV show

A writer and director who helmed a number of Black Mirror’s iconic episodes has revealed how she turned down the Harry Potter TV show, taking aim at JK Rowling as backlash surrounding the HBO reboot continues.

The conversation reignited this week when Bel Powley, who’s playing Petunia Dursley in the series, said she “strongly disagrees with JK Rowling’s views on gender” while defending her decision to join the franchise. 

Days later, it was announced that Nicholas Hoult has been cast as Gilderoy Lockhart for the second season, once again sparking backlash due to Rowling’s involvement as executive producer of the show.

The author has become increasingly outspoken in her opposition to transgender-inclusive policies and protections in recent years, and has used some of her Harry Potter fortune to pay for anti-trans legal causes. 

Amid the ongoing conversation, Ally Pankiw – who released her debut feature film I Used to Be Funny in 2023 and directed the Black Mirror episodes ‘Joan is Awful’ and ‘Common People’ – is now speaking out about how easy it is to say no. 

On Thursday, she took to Instagram to share a text message exchange from April in which she turned down getting involved in the Harry Potter series. A member of her team asked her, “I have an instinct on the answer but I feel compelled to ask… Harry Potter? Hard no?”

Pankiw replied, “Absolutely f**king not! Lol. (But thank you for asking).” The person then said “of course” and that they “agree”. 

Over the top of the screenshot, the filmmaker wrote, “It simply is this easy to say no to funding transphobia… You can do it too!”

In the next story, she shouted out Loki director and executive producer Kate Herron for shutting down the show not once but twice. 

Herron had originally replied to Pankiw’s post writing, “Respect and love to you Ally. They’ve asked me twice and I’ve had to explain my answer is never gonna change from a no.”

Pankiw elaborated on the situation in a conversation with Them, saying her team reached out 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 added. “But honestly, I didn’t investigate further!”

As said, Hoult and Powley are the latest actors to face scrutiny over their involvement in the franchise, but John Lithgow, Nick Frost and Keira Knightley have also spoken about Rowling’s views.

Pankiw told the outlet she wished more Hollywood figures would take a similar approach to the franchise as she did. 

“The more artists working at a high level who refuse to engage in work for companies that hurt marginalised communities – whether that’s companies who support and fund transphobes or the losers pushing AI on us – the more those companies will realise 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 creativity by new and diverse voices.”

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Featured image credit: Netflix/HBO