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Fantastic Beasts – Secrets of Dumbledore Trailer: J.K. Rowling is the big absentee

December 13, 2021.

It has been rumoured for months that Porpentina Goldstein (Tina, to her friends) was not going to be featured in the third Fantastic Beasts movie. Played by the British American actress Katherine Waterston, the rumours mentioned that her character was only going to be on one or two scenes. With the release of the full trailer, it seems those rumours are closer to the truth now.

Tina is not featured at all in this new video and based on the plot from the trailer we can guess she is not going to be an important piece in the movie. But she is not the big absentee from the trailer: J.K. Rowling is.

Above you can see the last sequence of the trailer, promoting the final date for the movie. Note the absence of writers, producers, and directors. This is not common since they are always credited at the end of trailers. Compare it with the end credits in the trailers of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Credits Screen from the Trailer
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Credits Screen from the Trailer
Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald - Credits Screen from the Trailer
Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald – Credits Screen from the Trailer

The absence of J.K. Rowling’s name in the trailer can be explained as Warner Bros. may want to keep her away from the project since the ongoing controversy surrounding the author’s statements. However, the estrangement comes from both sides. While Rowling heavily promoted The Crimes of Grindelwald on her Twitter account years ago (sharing title announcements, posters, and more), this time she did not tweet (or RT’ed) anything when the title was announced or when the first teaser was released last week. She did not share the news of the new trailer neither today.

It will be a matter of time to see how Warner Bros. will approach the marketing campaign and if they will include J.K. Rowling in it. It only seems unfair to leave her aside considering it is not only her world, the Wizarding World, but she is also the screenplay writer.

Update: J.K. Rowling’s official website has been updated with a news about the trailer on December 14th, almost 48hs after the trailer was released. You can access the article here.

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