Keira Knightley Was “Not Aware” of ‘Harry Potter’ Boycott When She Joined Audiobook Cast for JK Rowling Series: “I’m Very Sorry”

Published Oct. 11, 2025, 8:00 a.m. ET

Keira Knightley says she “was not aware” of any Harry Potter boycott when she signed on to voice Professor Umbridge in the upcoming seven-part audio book adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books for Audible.

“I was not aware of that, no,” Knightley said in a new interview with Decider, when asked if she knew that some fans were calling for a Potter boycott, in light of Rowling’s ongoing campaign against transgender people.

“I’m very sorry,” Knightley said. “I think we’re all living in a period of time right now where we’re all going to have to figure out how to live together, aren’t we? And we’ve all got very different opinions. I hope that we can all find respect.”

Last month, Variety announced that Knightley—who is currently promoting her new Netflix movie, The Woman in Cabin 10—was joining the cast of over 200 voice actors for Harry Potter: The Full Cast Audio Editions. Other cast members include Hugh Laurie as Albus Dumbledore, Matthew Macfadyen as Lord Voldemort, Riz Ahmed as Professor Snape, Michelle Gomez as Professor McGonagall, Kit Harington as Professor Lockhart, Simon Pegg as Arthur Weasley, James McAvoy as Mad-Eye Moody, and Matt Berry as Sir Cadogan.

Rowling—who is producing the new Harry Potter audio book series with Audible via her Pottermore Publishing company—has in the last five years become increasingly focused on anti-trans politics, from constant social media posts stating “trans women are men,” to large donations to anti-trans politic groups that work to claw back rights for transgender people.

Photo: Getty Images

In addition to producing the new audio books, Rowling is a producer on the original Potter films, and an executive producer on the new upcoming Harry Potter HBO series. Many trans rights groups and former fans have called for a total boycott of the series, which is still earning Rowling substantial amounts of money.

It’s nearly impossible to keep up with Rowling’s daily barrage of online bullying, but most recently, Rowling has tweeted “A woman is someone who doesn’t need to put in any work to become a woman, because she’s already a woman,” and attacked Harry Potter actor Emma Watson as “ignorant,” after the actor stated that she still had “love” for the author.

In 2020, in response to Rowling’s long essay about her anti-trans views, Watson posted a X statement, writing, “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.”

Star Daniel Radcliffe has also spoken out against Rowling’s views, stating in 2020, “It’s clear that we need to do more to support transgender and nonbinary people, not invalidate their identities.”