Photo: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
The final trailer for Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald released yesterday, and a Harry Potter bombshell was revealed in it.
Remember Voldemort’s beloved snake, Nagini? You know, the last Horcrux to be destroyed when Neville Longbottom killed it with Godric Gryffindor’s Sword? Well, in the latest installment of Fantastic Beasts, Nagini will be getting an origin story and we now know that the snake was once a human woman.
In the trailer, Credence (Ezra Miller) calls for Nagini at a circus and actress Claudia Kim transforms into the giant snake.
J.K. Rowling revealed on Twitter that she’s been holding in that Nagini secret “only for around 20 years,” although fans questioned why the Harry Potter series never alluded to it if Rowling did indeed plan it all along.
Everyone's shocked at the reveal that Nagini has been an animagus all this time but J.K. Rowling doesn't fool me. She just came up with this, otherwise the snake wouldn't have ended up in a zoo wishing to go back to Brasil.
— Alfonsothoth (@AlfonsoSRT) September 26, 2018
Nagini being a woman the entire time is just lazy writing. "J.K Rowling has been sitting on this secret for years!" Yeah it seems like she had a lot of "secrets" that she never bothered putting in any of her books. Convenient how that worked out 🙄
— 🍑 (@SweetPeachGames) September 25, 2018
J.K. ROWLING: Uhhhh yeah! Nagini was TOTALLY A KOREAN WOMAN THE WHOLE TIME? DUH wasn't it obvious???!!
Everyone: pic.twitter.com/4pPzxipOxU
— Charumathy Nair (@lunalector) September 26, 2018
Some found the casting of an Asian actress in this role problematic:
https://twitter.com/ElloEllenOh/status/1044638809999200256
https://twitter.com/halleluyang/status/1044935187635654656
It's even worse.
Let's retroactively turn an animal into a woman of color who is owned by wizard Hitler.
Nagini wasn't even hinted at being formerly human. It's lazy, hack writing.
— Citizenship for ALL International Adoptees (@snbatman) September 25, 2018
Fans also continue to question why Johnny Depp hasn’t been recast after accusations of domestic violence.
HP fans: Depp is problematic. Can you use the next year to reshoot w/ a new actor?
JK: You want me to show support for women and their autonomy?
Fans: Yes, plea…
JK: Okay, Nagini is now an Asian woman and a future possession of Voldemort.
Fans: Yes, wait, NO!#WandsReady
— J. Wolff (he/him/his) 🍉🦖 (@JWOLFFH) September 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/caroramsey/status/1044636077451931648
Meanwhile, can someone check on poor Neville after he realizes that he decapitated a human slave thinking it was a snake?
Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald hits theaters on November 16.
