Twenty years after the first Harry Potter book was released in the United States, the franchise still has the power to amaze â and offend. To this day, J.K. Rowlingâs series is still banned in some schools and libraries for promoting âwitchcraft.â But with the release last week of a new trailer for the next film in the fictional universe, âFantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindelwald,â Rowling is facing a different sort of backlash. This one shouldnât be dismissed so easily.
At the heart of todayâs Harry Potter controversy is a five-second clip in the âFantastic Beasts 2â trailer showing South Korean actress Claudia Kim transforming into a massive snake. The scene apparently reveals the backstory behind her character, Nagini, who eventually becomes Voldemortâs pet: She is a âmaledictus,â or shape-shifter, cursed to eventually become trapped in a snakeâs body.