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  • No one expected the final trailer for the Harry Potter prequel

  • Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald to tell them anything they didn't already know

  • from watching previously released teasers and TV spots.

  • But when Warner Bros. dropped the last piece of promotional footage on September 25,

  • minds were blown.

  • Why?

  • Because it features a brief clip of a woman named Nagini turning into a snake.

  • And that has opened a huge can of worms for Harry Potter fans,

  • leading Harry Potter author J.K.Rowling to issue a public defense of the film.

  • In the original Harry Potter series,

  • Nagini was a gigantic sinister snake who served as the evil lord Voldemort's companion and assistant,

  • while also acting as a Horcrux, one of the vessels for a portion of Voldemort's soul.

  • Nagini was eventually slain by Neville Longbottom, opening the way for Voldemort's final defeat.

  • So the revelation that Nagini was once a human woman that can turn into a snake,

  • or possibly a snake that turns into a woman - is definitely a shocker for fans.

  • But the surprise hasn't been all that welcomed by everyone.

  • Both longtime and casual fans of the franchise have a number of concerns.

  • Perhaps most importantly over the choice to cast South Korean actress -

  • and Marvel Universe veteran - Claudia Kim in the role.

  • Twitter user Jen Moulton started the firestorm

  • when she tagged Rowling in tweet that read in part,

  • "Listen! we get it, you didn't include enough representation when you wrote the books.

  • But suddenly making Nagini into a Korean woman is garbage.

  • Representation as an afterthought for more woke points is not good representation."

  • Other Twitter users piled on, with one decrying the decision to cast one of the two actors

  • of color in the Fantastic Beasts franchise as a, quote,

  • "Literal object owned by a white man inspired by Nazis."

  • And others voiced concerns that the casting choice bore echoes of old stereotypes,

  • such as those associating Asian people with snakes, as well as the Dragon Lady cliché.

  • Rowling didn't take the criticism lying down,

  • responding to the original attack with a tweet that said,

  • "The Naga are snake-like mythical creatures of Indonesian mythology, hence the name 'Nagini,'

  • They are sometimes depicted as winged, sometimes as half-human, half-snake.

  • Indonesia comprises a few hundred ethnic groups, including Javanese, Chinese and Betawi.

  • Have a lovely day."

  • She later added that she has been holding onto the secret of Nagini's true nature for "around twenty years."

  • That revelation seemed to actually spark even more anger from another subsection of fans

  • who complain about Rowling's history of revealing, or changing - details of the Harry Potter

  • universe years after the series wrapped up.

  • Most famously, three months after the final book came out in 2007,

  • she announced that Dumbledore was gay, and had been in love with Grindlewald.

  • Many applauded Rowling for the announcement,

  • but some felt she was trying to have her cake and eat it too by pandering to LGBTQ fans

  • without truly taking the perceived risk of actually portraying Dumbledore as gay in either the books or films.

  • The Dumbledore controversy gained new energy in January 2018.

  • When director David Yates revealed that Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

  • won't make it "explicitly" clear that Dumbledore, played by Jude Law, is gay.

  • Despite the purported love of his life being at the center of the sequel's story.

  • Instead, there seem to be just vague hints for hardcore Harry Potter fans to decipher.

  • "Dumbledore, why can't you go?"

  • "I can't move against Grindelwald.

  • It has to be you."

  • The Nagini and Dumbledore controversies are just the latest PR hits for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,

  • which has faced intense scrutiny from the moment it was revealed in November, 2017

  • that Johnny Depp was set to return to the role of Grindelwald from 2016's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

  • Despite highly publicized allegations

  • that he had assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard prior to their divorce.

  • It remains to be seen whether any of these controversies will affect how

  • Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald performs at the box office

  • when it arrives in theaters on November 16, 2018,

  • but one thing is for sure: even if the film isn't a must-watch for everyone,

  • J.K. Rowling's twitter feed definitely is.

No one expected the final trailer for the Harry Potter prequel

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