01 October 2018 - JK Rowling Defends Controversial Casting in «Fantastic Beasts» Sequel
J.K. Rowling Addresses Latest Casting Controversy in Fantastic Beasts Sequel
Eli Meixler (TIME Magazine, 27/09/2018)
Author J.K. Rowling on Wednesday deflected criticism of racial tokenism for casting a South Korean actor in the latest installment of the Fantastic Beasts franchise.
A promotional trailer for the forthcoming movie revealed that South Korean actress Claudia Kim will play Nagini, a snake belonging to the villain Voldemort.
Not all viewers were thrilled with the casting. One Twitter user accused Rowling of bolstering diversity in the film’s cast to compensate for its alleged absence from her books.
Outrage Ensues After Claudia Kim Cast As Nagini In 'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald'
(Huffington Post Canada, 29/09/2018)
Reactions to Claudia Kim's casting as Nagini in the 'Fantastic Beasts' franchise have been mixed, with many saying an Asian woman portraying a snake falls into racist stereotypes.
JK Rowling gets schooled on the roots of Nagini by desis
(Times of India, 27/09/2018)
While standing up to criticisms about one of her fiction characters, Nagini, writer JK Rowling found herself at the receiving end of a barrage of trolling from the Indian sub-continent. Reason: Rowling said that Nagini was derived from shape-shifting snake-like creatures of Indonesian mythology.
The conversation took off following a reveal in the latest trailer of 'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald' that Nagini, Lord Voldemort's snake companion in the 'Harry Potter' series, was a woman before the events that transpired in the books and films.
Fantastic Beasts isn't racist, but JK Rowling should stop tweaking the source material
Hanna Flint (The Guardian, 28/09/2018)
When it comes to Harry Potter, JK Rowling just can’t leave it alone. This is not necessarily a bad thing – fans have got to see Harry and friends all grown-up in the Cursed Child plays – but she’s also managed to muddy the waters by her constant rejigging of the original narrative furniture.
The latest act of retroactive continuity (or “retcon” as it’s become known) to the source material comes via the final trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, which confirmed that the mysterious character played by Korean actress Claudia Kim is in fact Nagini, the same Nagini who was Lord Voldemort’s right-hand-snake in the original books and film series.
The deadly viper was always believed to be just that – or rather, Rowling never provided any further backstory to the snake until now, even though she said on Twitter that she’s been sitting on this secret for 20 years. Now we’re told that Nagini was originally a woman trapped as a snake because of a blood curse passed down through her maternal family line.