Harry Potter fans left disappointed after King’s Cross drops annual Hogwarts Express event
The Hogwarts Express is no longer departing from Kings Cross, it seems (X:@UB1UB2/Warner Bros)
Harry Potter fans who gathered at King’s Cross station were disappointed after the annual announcement for the Hogwarts Express did not take place.
Fans regularly go to the train station to celebrate the Harry Potter books, particularly on 1 September, the start of term at the fictional wizarding school in JK Rowling’s stories.
In previous years, an announcement has come over the loudspeakers announcing that the Hogwarts Express would be leaving from Platform 9¾ at King’s Cross at 11am, as well as a listing for the train appearing on the departure board in the main concourse.
However, this year, Warner Bros Discovery, who own the rights to Harry Potter, decided not to do so, and a statement on the Wizarding World website advised fans not to go to the station.
“Come 1st September, fans are strongly discouraged from attending King’s Cross this year, as there will be no event, departure board or countdown at the station.”
“Instead, we’ve recruited our resident Hufflepuff (and current King of the Jungle) Sam Thompson to be with you all in spirit once again in a specially recorded online programme made in celebration of Back to Hogwarts. Head to the official Harry Potter YouTube channel to watch along with us at 11am to see him in action.”
However, Harry Potter fans still turned up at King’s Cross and filmed the departure board as the clock chimed 11am. Instead of a Hogwarts Express announcement, a video posted on X/Twitter showed regular information about delayed trains, prompting laughter and booing.
Many comments underneath the video said this is a “fully functioning train station” and that people were taking the books “too seriously”.
This comes just months after Harry Potter star Miriam Margolyes told adult fans of the franchise to “grow up”.
What has JK Rowling said about trans people?
Author Rowling has been mired in controversy in recent years due to her comments about trans people.
JK Rowling first came in for criticism in 2019 when she came out in support of “gender critical” campaigner Maya Forstater, who was then in a legal battle with her former employer after being fired for expressing anti-trans views.
Several other posts concerning the trans community followed, including a tweet in which Rowling claimed that if “sex isn’t real” then “same-sex attraction” isn’t real.
Just days later, on 10 June, 2020, Rowling published a lengthy post on her website, sharing it on Twitter with the caption “TERF wars”. In it, she firmly outlined her position against allowing trans women into single-sex spaces.
In October 2023, Rowling took to X, formerly called Twitter, to suggest she’d rather do jail time than use a trans person’s correct pronouns. In the post, Rowling shared an image showing the words “repeat after us: trans women are women” projected onto a wall, with the caption: “No.” Under the post, a user wrote: “Vote Labour, get a two year stretch,” in reference to Labour’s proposed anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime laws.
