By Alexandra Abumuhor
Harry Potter author received just 10 mentions in the new franchise reunion
Harry Potter: Return to Hogwarts aired on Saturday morning, and JK Rowling's appearance was widely speculated due to her pervious statements on transgender issues which was considered 'transphobic' which resulted in her being 'cancelled'.
In December 2019, JK Rowling was criticized when she reacted to the news about Maya Forstater, a visiting fellow at the Centre for Global Development, whose contract was renewed after she tweeted that transgender women couldn’t change their biological sex.
Forstater was also accused of using “offensive and exclusionary” language to oppose proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act in the United Kingdom to allow people to self-identify as the opposite sex.
After her contract at the Centre for Global Development wasn’t renewed, Forstater challenged the termination in court but lost.
Judge James Tayler ruled that Forstater’s termination was valid since her “absolutist” beliefs about biological sex includes referring to a person “by the sex she considered appropriate even if it violates their dignity and/or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.”
Rowling later tweeted her support of Forstater and slammed the Centre of Global Development for her termination. “Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill,” she wrote.
The tweet was met with backlash from LGBTQ advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign, which responded in a tweet, “Trans women are women. Trans men are men. Non-binary people are non-binary. CC: JK Rowling.”
The show which was one hour and 42 minute-long aired on HBO Max special and many fans were shocked over Rowling's minimal appearance.
Harry Potter director Christopher Columbus spoke about why he directed the first two movies, claiming that his daughter forced him to read the books.
He later mentioned JK saying: '''I had to fly to Edinburgh to meet JK Rowling and I said "This is my vision of the movies" and she said she had the same'.
Also mentioning the author was actress Bonnie Wright who played Ginny Weasley, '' 'So many people were falling in love with her writing'.
In the new reunion, JK Rowling is only seen in an archive footage, where the author speaks about the struggle to finding an actor to portray Harry, she also discussed seeing the Harry Potter set for the first time: 'The first time I visited the set they walked me through and it was mind-blowing'.
Two more mentions of the creator came when the main cast -Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint- discussed a writing task while Helena Bonham Carter also recalled a conversation she had with JK about her character Bellatrix Lestrange.
Actress Evanna Lynch, who played Luna Lovegood, opened up about her relationship with the author, saying that she was in touch with her before she got the part describing Rowling as a pen friend.
She said: 'I was writing to JK Rowling from when I was about 11 to say thank you for the books and she was responding to me. I'm one of the few lucky people who can say I had her as a pen friend.'
In her final appearance, the author is seen in the 2019 archive, saying: 'I have founded a world that's extraordinary to be involved in and it's a beautiful world.'
It was also revealed that JK Rowling wanted to no be featured in the Reunion and it was not the producers' decision.
