‘Black Mirror’ director turns down offer to work on ‘Harry Potter’ series: “Absolutely fucking not”

Black Mirror director Ally Pankiw has said she rejected an opportunity to work on HBO‘s upcoming Harry Potter series because of J.K. Rowling‘s views on gender. Pankiw, who directed the 2023 Black Mirror episode ‘Joan Is Awful’, shared a screenshot on Instagram of what appeared to be an exchange with her representative, who wrote: “I have an instinct on the answer but I feel compelled to ask. Harry Potter? Hard no?” “Absolutely fucking not! Lol… (But thank you for asking),” Pankiw replied. Her representative responded: “Of course :)… I assumed as much… (And agree).” The Canadian filmmaker captioned the post: “It simply is this easy to say no to funding transphobia!”, and later clarified that the offer was “for directing, not acting…obviously lol.” ‘Black Mirror’ director Ally Pankiw reveals she turned down directing the ‘Harry Potter’ HBO series: “It simply is this easy to say no to funding transphobia!” pic.twitter.com/akGyYNSK86 — Pop Base (@PopBase) August 14, 2026 In the comments, Loki director Kate Herron said she had also been approached about the series on more than one occasion. “They’ve asked me twice and I’ve had to explain my answer is never going to change from a no,” sh...