With an HBO Max show on the horizon, the Harry Potter fandom finally has a chance to get fulfill the prophecy and see Ben Barnes play Sirius Black. The actor has been the subject of an intense fancasting campaign for over a decade, as fans have longed to see him play the iconic character...but Ben Barnes’ recent comments about Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling have cast serious doubts over his potential future with the franchise.
During a recent appearance at FanX's Tampa Bay Comic-Con, the Chronicles of Narnia star was asked about the fancasting and how it felt to be tied to a character he’s never actually played.
“I found it very weird for a lot of years, because I didn’t really understand what was happening,” he told fans during a Q&A, as reported by Collider. “People would sort of ask me to sign things or—and I was like, ‘You know what? I was in Narnia.”
Over the years, Ben has grown to appreciate the passion of fans who want to see him as Sirius. “It’s the commitment to it, which I really kind of value,” he added. “And I think is really, really lovely.”
That said, the actor acknowledged the shift in the Harry Potter fandom since author J.K. Rowling became more politically active and vocally anti-trans. “In the last few years, I found it much more—a more difficult thing to talk about, because there’s obviously, like, a clash between some of the author’s views on things and the way I see the world,” he said, noting that while the stories used to bring a lot of joy, the franchise has been “tainted” by Rowling’s extreme views.
Ben has long been a supporter of LGBTQ+ rights. In 2023, he designed a T-shirt in a partnership with Choose Love, a nonprofit organization, with profits going to help provide medical care, food, shelter, and support for refugees and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. And though he didn’t address the possibility of being cast in HBO Max’s new Harry Potter series, it doesn’t exactly sound like he’d be interested.
