Alberta-born director Ally Pankiw gives Harry Potter a hard no

Canadian filmmaker Ally Pankiw says she will not pursue directing work on HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series.

Photo: Ally Pankiw/allypankiw.com.

Alberta-born filmmaker Ally Pankiw says she turned down the chance to pursue directing work on HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series, saying it was an easy decision not to participate.

Pankiw, whose credits include Black Mirror, Feel Good, The Great and Schitt’s Creek, shared a screenshot of an exchange with a member of her team on Instagram Thursday.

“I have an instinct on the answer but I feel compelled to ask. Harry Potter? Hard no?” the message read.

“Absolutely f---ing not! Lol,” Pankiw replied, before thanking the person for asking.

In the caption, Pankiw wrote, “It simply is this easy to say no to funding transphobia!” and clarified that the inquiry involved directing rather than acting.

Pankiw later told Them that the exchange was a check from her team to determine whether she would be willing to interview or consider directing during the show’s second season.

“It was not a hard job offer that I turned down, but more the opportunity to meet or interview,” she told the publication, adding that she did not investigate the opportunity any further.

The new Harry Potter adaptation is executive produced by J.K. Rowling, whose public positions on sex and gender have drawn years of criticism from transgender people, LGBTQ+ advocates and others.

Rowling rejects the characterization of herself as transphobic. On her website, she says transgender people deserve protection and safety while arguing that single-sex spaces and sex-based protections for women and girls should be maintained.

Pankiw is not the only director to publicly rule out working on the series.

Kate Herron, whose directing credits include Loki and Doctor Who, responded to Pankiw’s Instagram post by saying she had been approached about the production twice.

“They’ve asked me twice and I’ve had to explain my answer is never gonna change from a no,” Herron wrote in the comments.

Pankiw brings a substantial Canadian résumé to the discussion.

Born in St. Albert, Alta., she moved to Toronto to study journalism before building a career in film and television. She worked as a writer and story editor on Schitt’s Creek and has directed episodes of Feel Good, The Great and Black Mirror.

Her Black Mirror credits include “Joan Is Awful” and “Common People.” She also wrote and directed her first feature film, I Used to Be Funny, starring Rachel Sennott, and directed the documentary Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, about the women-led music festival founded by Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan.

Pankiw describes herself as a Canadian filmmaker whose work focuses on character-driven stories about women and queer characters.

HBO’s Harry Potter series is already in production. Its first season, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, stars Dominic McLaughlin as Harry, Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger and Alastair Stout as Ron Weasley and is scheduled to debut at Christmas 2026. Rowling is an executive producer and says she advised on the first-season scripts.

Pankiw, meanwhile, has made clear that she will not be pursuing a place behind the camera.