Педро Паскаль у серіалі The Last Of Us
While HBO/Warner Bros. is «diligently» selecting the cast for the upcoming Harry Potter series, the star of another popular film adaptation, Pedro Pascal, is trying to bring their efforts to a halt.
The reason is J.K. Rowling, or rather, her attitude toward LGBT people. Pascal, who is known for his support of the community, criticized the writer for promoting the recent decision of the UK Supreme Court, which legally defined the concepts of «female» and «sex» as referring exclusively to persons born biologically female. The Last Of Us star did not mince words on social media, describing Rowling’s actions as «disgusting shit»and supported activist Tariq Rauf’s call to boycott all Harry Potter-related projects — including the upcoming HBO series worth approximately $2 billion.
The series itself, even without Pascal, got into scandals with the preliminary selection of actors, where most fans were concerned about a new black Snape played by Paapa Essiedu — despite the fact that the TV channel promised a «reliable» adaptation of the books, which clearly described the character as pale.
The rest of the confirmed cast includes John Lithgow (Albus Dumbledore), Janet McTeer (Minerva McGonagall), Nick Frost (Rubeus Hagrid), Paul Whitehouse (Argus Filch), and Luke Tellon (Professor Quirrell). No actors have yet been cast as Harry, Ron and Hermione or any other wizarding school characters, although last year HBO reported that 32,000 children auditioned for the program.
Mark Mylod («Game of Thrones») will direct several episodes, Francesca Gardiner is the project’s screenwriter, and Rowling herself is involved in the project as an executive producer. The series will consist of 7 seasons, and its production will take at least 10 years. The first one is tentatively scheduled to premiere in 2027.
Interestingly, The Last Of Us is also being developed by HBO, but it is not yet known how the executives reacted to Pascal’s statement.