The Fantastic Beasts film series has been involved in various controversies, and here’s every one of them. In 1997, J.K. Rowling introduced readers to the Wizarding World with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first in a series of seven novels. The books told the story of “the boy who lived” and the darkest wizard of all, Lord Voldemort, touching on topics like oppression, power and abuse, loss, prejudice, and love. The Harry Potter novels have been complemented with the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and the in-universe books Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages.
The Harry Potter series made the jump to the big screen between 2001 and 2011, with the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, being split into two films. Fans returned to the Wizarding World in 2016 with the release of the cinematic adaptation of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, written by Rowling and directed by David Yates (who also directed the final four Harry Potter films). The film followed magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) as he enlisted the help of muggle Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) to go after some escaped magical creatures. Meanwhile, a strange dark force terrorized New York City, and dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald was suspected to be behind it all.
Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them received positive reviews, but it wasn’t as well received as the Harry Potter films. Still, it was enough to make way for a sequel – Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald – and potentially three more films. Fantastic Beasts 2 was criticized for its plot, which was too focused on setting up future sequels, and became the lowest-grossing film of the Wizarding World. The film was involved in controversy during pre-production when Johnny Depp was cast as Grindelwald, which didn’t help its performance with viewers and in the box office. However, Depp’s casting hasn’t been the only controversy around Fantastic Beasts, which have put a big question mark over the future of the series. Here’s every controversy Fantastic Beasts has caused.
The Backlash to Johnny Depp’s Grindelwald Casting
Johnny Depp’s involvement in the Fantastic Beasts series was the first film’s big surprise. Near the end of the film, Newt exposed Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) as Grindelwald in disguise, who was later taken into custody. Depp’s involvement in Fantastic Beasts 2 was confirmed in November 2016, but by then, Depp was already involved in controversy due to his divorce from Amber Heard, with fans turning their backs at him and voicing their disagreement with Warner Bros’ casting decision.
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard got married in 2015, and the latter filed for divorce in 2016, obtaining a temporary restraining order and declaring he had been “verbally and physically abusive” throughout their relationship. That, along with his box office appeal not being what it once was as well as his acting abilities, prompted fans to call for a recast. David Yates and J.K. Rowling defended their casting choice, and while Heard and Depp reached a settlement in August 2016, the controversy didn’t end there, and fans continued to express their disagreement.
The Depp/Heard controversy isn’t completely over yet, with fans still taking sides, more so after the release of audio recordings which allegedly corroborate Depp’s claims of Heard being abusive to him. What’s for sure is that Depp’s popularity has decreased in recent years, even before his (very public) divorce, and as he has been confirmed to reprise his role as Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts 3, viewers might not be that interested in the film series anymore.
Ezra Miller’s Fan Choke Video Controversy
Johnny Depp isn’t the only cast member to be involved in controversy regarding their aggressive behaviors behind the scenes. Ezra Miller, who has played Credence Barebone in both Fantastic Beasts films, was recently in the middle of controversy when a video of them choking a fan was shared on social media. In it, Miller is seen talking to a woman outside a pub, where she appears to be joking around while making silly “fight” moves towards the actor. Miller can be heard asking “did you want to fight?” while going for her neck, slamming her on what appears to be a wagon behind her, and then taking her down. The video is very short and ends right after she’s taken to the ground, as the person filming and those around it went to her aid.
It’s still unknown exactly what happened, though a friend of the fan involved shared that the woman “jokingly challenged him to a fight”, which Miller took too seriously. Miller was reportedly escorted out of the pub’s premises, but not before he spat on a bartender and one of the woman’s companions. However, an eyewitness explained that Miller was confronted by some over-eager fans, among those the woman in the video, and he ended up losing his temper. Still, that doesn’t excuse their violent reaction, and while Miller’s team has been quietly dealing with it, fans were quick to share their disappointment and anger over what happened.
Miller is set to reprise their role as Credence in Fantastic Beasts 3, but as neither they nor Warner Bros. share any type of statement about the incident, it will surely affect the audience’s reaction to Miller’s return to the film series.
JK Rowling’s Anti-Trans Controversy
The latest controversy surrounding the Wizarding World are J.K. Rowling’s anti-trans comments. The controversy around Rowling’s comments began in 2018, when she liked a tweet that referred to trans women as “men in dresses”. Her team explained that it was an accident, result of a “clumsy and middle-aged moment”. In December 2019, Rowling tweeted her support for Maya Forstater, a British tax expert whose employer decided not to renew her contract after she expressed her views on transgender people on Twitter. LGBTQ organization GLAAD asked to have an off-the-record conversation with her, which was reportedly denied by her publicist, and many Twitter users asked her to educate herself on the topic.
Rowling’s anti-trans comments didn’t stop there, and in June 2020 she received more backlash after sharing an article that used the phrase “people who menstruate”, which she criticized. Rowling expanded on that tweet with a thread where she wrote that “if sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased”. Although she added that she “knows and loves trans people” and respects their rights “to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them”, she insisted that she doesn’t believe that it’s “hate to speak the truth”. Daniel Radcliffe, Eddie Redmayne, Emma Watson, and other actors from the Wizarding World shared their support to the trans community, with Evanna Lynch defending Rowling but not her anti-trans views.
Redmayne’s statement drew a lot of attention as he was very direct and clear on his disagreement with Rowling’s comments, and while he’s also confirmed to return for Fantastic Beasts 3, it’s unclear if the controversy around Rowling’s comments will affect the film, including Redmayne’s involvement. It doesn’t help either that Warner Bros. released a disappointing statement and Rowling’s lengthy post on the matter wasn’t any good. All these different issues have cast a big shadow over the Fantastic Beasts film series, and as production on Fantastic Beasts 3 had to be put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, it remains to be seen if the studio’s plans will change somehow, whether by not having Rowling involved anymore, some of the actors dropping out, or cancelling the project – though it’s also very possible that Warner will just brush it all off and move forward with its plans.
