As Harry Potter fans impatiently wait for the sequel in the “Fantastic Beasts” series, last Tuesday, Jude Law opened up about his upcoming role as Albus Dumbledore in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. In the new movie, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” Law portrays a young Dumbledore, and anyone who is familiar with the “Harry Potter” world knows that Dumbledore plays a big role in this film.
Fans have been specifically curious about how Dumbledore’s sexuality will be represented in the upcoming film, as the author behind the franchise, J.K. Rowling, expressed a few years ago that Dumbledore is in fact gay. Many supporters believe that Dumbledore fell in love with Grindelwald who became an evil wizard forcing Dumbledore to defeat him and that this situation will become a major plotline in the newest movie. Unfortunately, it is unclear if this will actually be the case.
In an earlier interview, the director of the sequel, David Yates, who also directed many of the original Harry Potter films, mentioned that the matter would not be addressed “explicitly.” Fans looked to Law to remedy the situation, hoping that he would have more to say on the matter.
In his new interview, when asked specifically about Dumbledore’s sexuality, Law answered, “We’re not going to reveal everything at once.” He mentioned that he had asked Rowling herself if Dumbledore was gay but then took a different direction and said, “But as with humans your sexuality doesn’t define you. [Dumbledore] multifaceted.”
He continued to say that it is only the second film in a series which is expected to have a total of five films. He hinted that Rowling likes to reveal things over time, so there may be more information disclosed about Dumbledore’s sexuality and relationship with Gridelwald later in the series.
Unfortunately, for many fans, this is not the answer that they were hoping to hear. While the Harry Potter world contains a multitude of things, it does not include a lot of diversity, especially in regard to the LGBTQ community.
Many Harry Potter enthusiasts feel as though Rowling announced that Dumbledore was gay as a throw away statement to defend herself against the backlash she received due to the lack of representation in the original movies.
This may be the case as Dumbledore’s sexuality was never explicitly mentioned in the original series, and as of now, it seems as the movie producers do not have any plans to mention it in the “Fantastic Beast” movies either.
Since the Yates and Law interviews came out, fans have been expressing their disappointment and Rowling has been receiving more backlash, for good reason. The Harry Potter franchise has had and continues to have a huge impact on many children and actually including the proper LGBTQ representation is important, not just mentioning it for the publicity.
Let’s hope that in the total 13 Harry Potter related movies, the producers, and writers will finally realize that this kind of representation is necessary.
