Keira Knightly breaks silence on ‘Harry Potter’ audiobook role amid boycott

Keira Knightly acknowledged that she was oblivious to Harry Potter boycott prior to her role in the novel's audiobook series.

The Pride & Prejudice actress will voice Professor Dolores Umbridge in Pottermore Publishing and Audible's Harry Potter: The Full-Cast Audio Editions.

The actress is now finally clearing the air after she became a target of backlash for supporting the project.

"I was not aware of that, no. I’m very sorry," the Pirates of Caribbean star told the Decider.

About the boycott she said, "You know, 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."

Previously, Rowling published a controversial 3,800-word essay on her personal website, alleging that the transgender "movement" is doing "demonstrable harm" to cisgender women.

Following her remarks, the lead cast including Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson all posted statements on social media in defence of the trans community and boycotted the author.

However earlier this month, during a podcast interview, On Purpose With Jay Shetty, Watson further elaborated on her relationship with Rowling, admitting that she still "still treasures" Rowling despite their diverging stances.

While the controversy is still on-going the audiobook series is in-tact along with Harry Potter reboot series.

The first instalment of Harry Potter full-cast audiobook series is set to release on November 4, 2025. Meanwhile, its reboot series is expected to premiered somewhere in 2027.