Justice for Tina Goldstein!
After the conclusion of Harry’s story in the Harry Potter series, the Wizarding World expanded — and took us back — to include the origin story of Newt Scamander and his studies of ~fantastical beasts~:
Warner Bros.
Care of Magical Creatures would not exist without Newt Scamander.
The first film in the franchise — Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them — introduced us to a slew of new and old characters:
One of those characters is Tina Goldstein (played by Katherine Waterston), the love interest/soon-to-be wife of Newt Scamander. She’s an Auror from America who’s instrumental in the fight against Gellert Grindelwald.
Warner Bros / Courtesy Everett Collection
Needless to say, she’s a pretty important character!
Warner Bros.
She’s just, you know, the female lead. No big deal.
So, when the trailer for the third installment — Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore — dropped ahead of its April 15 premiere date, fans noticed a glaring absence from the narrative:
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Warner Bros.
Let’s take a look at the poster for the first film:
Warner Bros / Courtesy Everett Collection
And the second:
Warner Bros / Courtesy Everett Collection
And here’s the third. Notice anyone missing?
Warner Bros / Courtesy Everett Collection
It’s the blatant absence of Tina Goldstein — and fans have noticed!
Warner Bros / Courtesy Everett Collection
Waterston isn’t even on the poster. Big respect to Katherine Waterston for sacrificing her place as the co-lead in a HUGE franchise in favour of denouncing JK Rowling and openly supporting trans rights.
BIG respect. #SecretsOfDumbledore
Warner Bros / Everett Collection/ Twitter: @lewisjwr
I wonder if not seeing Katherine Waterston in the marketing for the latest Fantastic Beasts has something to do with her saying this totally correct thing…
Warner Bros / Everett Collection / Twitter: @_ShauryaChawla
I think we just need to face the fact that Warner Bros and JK Rowling are giving up on Tina Goldstein as a character. I hope Katherine Waterston knows she’s worth more than this franchise and that they missed out big time by demoting her like they have. #FantasticBeasts
Twitter: @jaskiersbard
I’m a potterhead through and through. I will definitely watch #SecretsOfDumbledore, but Tina Goldstein is one of the main characters, whether some fans like it or not. So not having her in the trailers and on the posters is like a blow in my stomach. I miss her a lot.
Twitter: @mstinagoldstein
As pointed out by several users, Katherine Waterston has been open about her criticism of J.K. Rowling’s inflammatory comments about the trans community:
And a lot of people are wondering if Waterston speaking out about J.K. Rowling’s anti-trans comments has anything to do with her absence from the Fantastic Beasts promo.
Now, I would be remiss to not include the fact that Katherine Waterston contracted COVID while filming the third film…but still, that doesn’t explain her completely missing from the trailer and poster.
Carlos Alvarez / Getty Images
I guess we’ll have to wait until April 15 to see how present Tina will be in the film.