- Warning: Spoilers follow for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.
- The third prequel film greatly reduces Katherine Waterston’s role as Tina Goldstein.
- The reason for Tina’s absence is lame. It could be because the actress is publicly speaking out against the views of JK Rowling.
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Fantastic Beasts fans might be surprised to learn that a main character in the franchise’s third film has been reduced to nothing more than a glorified cameo appearance.
If you were hoping to see more of Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) in The Secrets of Dumbledore, you will likely be disappointed.
Newt Scamander’s (Eddie Redmayne) love interest and up to this point the second lead in the series, Goldstein sits on the sidelines for most of the new sequel.
Goldstein’s absence is made all the more frustrating by the fact that it offers a rather lame, unconvincing excuse for her minimal screen time.
As explained for Tina’s absence in The Secrets of Dumbledore: She got a fancy promotion
In the first Fantastic Beasts movie, Tina was an ex-Auror who wanted to be one again. Warner Bros.
When the non-magical human Jacob (a very humorous Dan Fogler) asks Newt about the giant elephant in the film’s room at the beginning of the film with a simple “What about Tina?”, Newt provides a simple explanation.
“Tina isn’t available,” Newt replies matter-of-factly.
He then clarifies that Tina has been appointed Head of Aurors at MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America), as if that should readily explain any confusion.
It’s not clear why that would necessarily keep Tina completely out of the loop. If anything, you’d think this might encourage Tina to try harder than ever to follow Newt, Jacob and the rest of the crew on their journey to try and stop Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen) in the third film.
An Auror is a law enforcement officer. With Grindelwald putting the entire wizarding community in potential danger, wouldn’t Tina and her Aurors be interested in stopping Grindelwald?
After all, Newt’s brother Theseus is also an Auror, albeit for the British Ministry of Magic, and he has a starring role in The Secrets of Dumbledore.
Sure, Grindelwald is overseas in the third film, so technically this might be outside of Tina’s jurisdiction and Theseus fits more naturally, but that doesn’t seem like something Tina would keep away if Newt’s life was at stake. Newt is a talented magizoologist, but Tina needs to know that she’s the superior sorceress of the two. (Newt is so easily KO’d by Credence early in the film that for a moment it appeared as if he had been killed.)
The film could have made a bigger reveal that would have made Tina’s absence more meaningful: a pregnancy
Newt and Tina eventually have a child. That would have been the perfect reason for Tina to sit out that third film. Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros.
Tina appears as a photo in Newt’s “fantastic” suitcase full of beasts, replacing the photo that previously showed Leta Lestrange (Zoë Kravitz). Tina’s biggest moment in the new film comes at the very end when she shows up at Jacob’s Bakery to meet Newt and the two attend Jacob’s wedding to Tina’s sister, Queenie (Alison Sudol).
Tina’s absence during the sequel would have made more sense and was more lenient if the character had revealed at the end of the film that she was pregnant.
That would at least explain why she didn’t want to put herself in immediate danger.
We know from Harry Potter lore that the two eventually had a child due to the existence of Newt’s grandson, Rolf Scamander, who eventually married Potter’s girlfriend, Luna Lovegood.
We also know from the extended “Potter” lore that Newt has two great-grandchildren named Lorcan and Lysander, who were born to Rolf and Luna.
Why Waterston’s role is likely to be reduced: She publicly defies franchise creator JK Rowling’s views on gender
Katherine Waterston was photographed at the world premiere of the film starring Eddie Redmayne on March 29th. No official stills of her were released in the film. Courtesy of Warner Bros.
For fans wondering why Tina’s role in Secrets of Dumbledore is being largely scaled back, some have suggested that Waterston’s role was minimized after the actress publicly opposed the views of franchise creator and Harry Potter author JK Rowling spoke out on transgender rights.
In June 2020, Waterston shared a Guardian article in an Instagram story that read, “Trans women pose no threat to cis women, but we pose a threat to them when we make them outcasts.”
According to The Independent, the actor underlined and circled some quotes, including: “Sorry, you can’t be a feminist if you don’t stand for everyone’s human rights, especially other women’s human rights.”
When asked by the outlet in 2021 why she shared the article, Waterston said it was “important to communicate her position” given her association with the Fantastic Beasts franchise.
“One wondered if they could possibly be categorized by association with other people’s views,” Waterston told the outlet.
The film’s credits indicate that the script for Secrets of Dumbledore was based on an original Rowling screenplay, which was later revised and co-written by Rowling and Harry Potter screenwriter Steve Kloves, so that the screenplay is unique It’s easy to wonder how much of Waterston’s role will have been cut and altered. Filming for the film was originally scheduled to begin in March 2020 before being pushed back to a September 2020 start due to COVID-19.
Waterston appeared at the premiere of “Secrets of Dumbledore” and was photographed with Redmayne. None of the film’s stars were photographed with Rowling, who was also in attendance.
A representative from Warner Bros., the studio behind the Fantastic Beasts franchise, did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment on the reason for Waterston’s minimal role in Secrets of Dumbledore.