Free Expression is a daily newsletter on American life, politics and culture from the Opinion pages of The Wall Street Journal. Sign up and start reading Free Expression today.
Audiences still haven't had enough of Harry Potter -- and it isn't hard to see why. J.K. Rowling's novels about a boy wizard attending a magical boarding school are the bestselling book series in history, later spawning eight blockbuster films, videogames, a theme park, a long-running Broadway and West End play, and -- of course -- a spinoff book that was itself turned into a series of movies. Later this year, Ms. Rowling's original story is set to get the HBO prestige TV treatment.
The trailer for the new show was released last week. It quickly racked up more than 277 million views across platforms, making it the most-viewed trailer of any HBO series. Unfortunately for those tired of Potter-mania, the reaction shows that millions of people are still eager to take the train to Hogwarts.
More surprising than the trailer's popularity is that it was met with little of the usual grumbling about J.K. Rowling's views on trans issues. While there was outrage on Bluesky and the odd article explaining "Why the new Harry Potter series is so controversial" -- Ms. Rowling's comments about transgender issues are first on the list, but not the only item -- the media seems to have tired of debating whether or not Ms. Rowling is a hardened transphobe.
Ms. Rowling first began attracting accusations of transphobia in 2019, after she posted on Twitter, now X, in support of Maya Forstater, a British researcher who lost her job over gender-critical posts. As Ms. Rowling began writing openly about her views, cycles of outrage ignited over such comments as, "'People who menstruate.' I'm sure there used to be a word for those people." In a 2020 tweet she expressed concern that gender transition is "a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people."
Actors who had worked on the original "Harry Potter" films condemned Ms. Rowling. She returned an award for charitable work after the organization behind it denounced her. The league dedicated to Quidditch, the fictional sport Ms. Rowling created, changed its name to Quadball.
Despite the anti-Rowling fervor, media set in the Harry Potter universe has continued to thrive. The Broadway play Ms. Rowling wrote -- a sequel that follows the children of the original protagonists -- still fills seats. A 2023 videogame set at a Victorian-era Hogwarts has sold more than 40 million copies.
It helps that Ms. Rowling's views are increasingly mainstream. Her interpretation of biological sex is now the law of the land in Britain, and polling in both the U.S. and U.K. suggests that most people agree with Ms. Rowling that transgender women shouldn't compete on women's sports teams and children shouldn't receive medical gender transitions.
More than anything, the simplest reason Ms. Rowling has managed to ride out controversy is that her novels are good. The wizarding world she created is utterly engrossing. It grounds a rich fantasy universe with a familiar British coziness. At the end of every harrowing adventure, there’s always a crackling fire and a deep armchair waiting for the heroes. The books also grow and change with the characters — and by extension, the child reader. As Harry and his friends get older, the story becomes darker and more fraught with danger. By the time of his final battle, Harry is fighting a profound evil from the cusp of adulthood.
It may be true that Ms. Rowling's reputation with the left-leaning media is tarnished forever. Something tells me that her views on trans issues will feature prominently in her eventual obituaries. But in a world where people can vote with their dollars, most of us aren't letting controversial tweets keep us away from a good story.
These days, my family's Harry Potter books are safe and sound in my six-year-old brother's bedroom. Our mother read the books aloud to me as a child, and now she's doing the same for him. Over Thanksgiving, I got to take a turn reading from "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" at bedtime. As I wrapped up the chapter in which the orphaned Harry secretly visits a magical mirror that shows him visions of his dead parents, I heard an all-too-familiar plea. "One more chapter! Please!"
Ms. Camp is senior newsletter editor at Free Expression.