HBO’s young stars will sit out the Harry Potter Oxford Street lights switch-on in London on Monday, Nov. 9, the network said in a statement reported by The Independent. “With production of our second season already under way, we are mindful of our young actors’ busy schedules and are judicious when it comes to asks of their time on top of their production and education commitments,” an HBO spokesperson said. “We have therefore decided not to involve our young actors in the official switch-on event for the Oxford Street Christmas lights.”
HBO’s statement doesn’t mention protests, but The Sun reported Sunday, Nov. 1, citing unnamed insiders, that HBO Max executives had held talks with the Metropolitan Police about possible disorder connected to trans rights campaigners. “It was all looking really exciting but sadly there are concerns about their safety. With the police and stakeholders, it was decided the child actors won’t appear,” one insider told the tabloid, The Independent reported. “No one wants to risk their safety if protests go ahead.”
Trans rights campaigners have targeted the theme since October, when the Good Law Project, a not-for-profit campaign group, launched a petition asking London Mayor Sadiq Khan to cancel it over author J.K. Rowling’s views on trans people. “Harry Potter lights in one of the busiest streets of London will not make trans people feel Christmassy, welcome, or safe,” the petition says.
Who Plays Harry, Hermione and Ron in HBO’s ‘Harry Potter’?
HBO named Dominic McLaughlin as Harry in May 2025, with Arabella Stanton as Hermione and Alastair Stout as Ron, Variety reported. Showrunner Francesca Gardiner and director Mark Mylod said then that “we are delighted to announce we have found our Harry, Hermione and Ron.”
(The first Hermione, Emma Watson, helped flip the Oxford Street switch at 14 back in 2004. “I have wanted to do it ever since I was very young and I saw the Spice Girls do it,” she said, according to Hello!)
Good Law Project Asks Sadiq Khan to Pull the Plug
“Sadiq Khan says he’s an ally of the trans community, declaring that trans rights are human rights,” the petition says, The Telegraph reported on Oct. 25, when it had 10,240 signatures. It urges Khan to “pull the plug on transphobia,” according to The Independent, which put the count at more than 10,000 on Nov. 2.
Rowling’s executive producer credit drew backlash over her comments about trans people when HBO announced it, Gayety reported Oct. 30. The Good Law Project’s petition calls her “one of the most famous anti-trans people in the world.” Rowling has always rejected being called transphobic, The Telegraph noted, and the BBC is making a two-part documentary about her that’s expected in 2027.
“The mayor is clear that he will always support and champion all of London’s diverse communities, including trans and non-binary Londoners,” a City Hall spokesman told The Telegraph. Khan’s office has also said the New West End Company, not City Hall, organizes the lights, The Independent reported.
Who’s Behind the ‘Harry Potter’ Oxford Street Lights?
“New West End Company has partnered with HBO Max for this year’s Oxford Street Christmas decorations,” a company spokesman told The Telegraph. The spokesman wouldn’t weigh in on the petition, the paper reported, but said Oxford Street and the West End “continues to be a place where all are welcome.”
One Freedom of Information request asked City Hall to confirm “how much money HBO paid the Mayor Development Corporation” for the theme. “The GLA does not hold the information you have requested,” the Greater London Authority replied Oct. 8, according to its disclosure log, and it pointed the requester to the Oxford Street Development Corporation.
The switch-on starts at 4:30 p.m. Nov. 9, and full details are due Thursday, Nov. 5, This Is Local London reported. HBO Max and the New West End Company have billed the theme as a “festive celebration of one of the world’s most beloved stories,” The Independent reported. A Harry Potter flagship store opens on Oxford Street on Wednesday, Nov. 4, and the series premieres on Christmas Day, Time Out reported.
