Not Making Dumbledore 'Explicitly' Gay Is a Cowardly Move

Has there ever been a franchise as retroactively despised quite like Harry Potter? At its prime, J.K. Rowling's bestselling series of fantasy novels ignited the imaginations of readers, fueled the resurgence of young-adult literature, and inspired a blockbuster film franchise. But in the decade since the conclusion of the series with its seventh novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, there's been a growing reevaluation of the wizarding world.

The Fantastic Beasts franchise, an intended five-film series set prior to the release of the books, has found itself in hot water from minute one. First came the news of Johnny Depp as the villain Gellert Grindelwald, a casting decision coming right around the time of the actor's domestic abuse allegations, and one the studio and Rowling doubled-down on by building the entire second film around his character. Now director David Yates has confirmed that the young version of Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, played in the upcoming sequel by Jude Law, won't have any scenes where his being gay is explicitly addressed.

Dumbledore's homosexuality was already a divisive topic. Rather than offer any indication in the novels that he was indeed queer, Rowling reserved that revelation for a 2007 book tour in support of the release of Deathly Hallows. Some were supportive, others against it, but it's become widely agreed that it's disappointing the author didn't choose to actually depict Harry Potter's mentor as gay. Even in the original films, three of which were produced after the release of the final book, his sexuality is full ignored. The hope was that with Fantastic Beasts prominently featuring both a young Dumbledore and Grindewald, the dark wizard he fell for, there would be something to confirm his queerness. Damn the Depp casting, damn the horrible implications of a tragic gay romance, many fans simply wanted what previously had been denied to them.

Instead, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald will reportedly just feature teasing hints at the character's homosexuality, not unlike what happened with Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok or Becky G's Trini in Power Rangers. Whatever faults that those two films had in regard to the depiction of their queer characters, they at the very least tried to talk the talk as best they could: Tessa Thomspon openly stated that she played the character like she was bisexual, and Power Rangers briefly mentions Trini being into girls and gives the idea that she and Kimberly are into each other. They're scraps, no doubt about it, but at the very least, they genuinely come off as regretful of the omissions that were likely handed down to them from corporate. Sadly, Power Rangers will likely never really have the ability to follow up on Trini's sexuality due to the film's disappointing box office performance, but a version of MCU Valkyrie is coming to the Marvel's Exiles comic, where she's been specifically said to be queer.

Meanwhile, Yates, Rowling and the Fantastic Beasts screenwriters are straight up queerbaiting Harry Potter fans in a way that's so insidious and manipulative that even last year's Beauty & the Beast would deem a step too far. Even if you want to ignore just how retroactive this whole thing has been from the start, it's truly insulting and teasing to even feature Law as Dumbledore in the film itself and then just go, "Eh, maybe it'll be addressed in one of the other three sequels we plan to make."

Page 2: [valnet-url-page page=2 paginated=0 text='Perhaps%20harry%20Potter%20Fandom%20Should%20Move%20On']

Let's be clear about that whole waiting aspect of this: many fans will refuse to wait another three films to see if the Fantastic Beasts movies get around to making Dumbledore officially gay. Not when there's plenty of other openly queer content for them to consume, from the women of Black Lightning and the Arrowverse to other genre shows such as Wynonna Earp or American Horror Story. Harry Potter could've been the first modern genre franchise to get ahead of the game and show other studios how it's done.

Warner Bros. made waves in releasing the first modern woman-led superhero film with last year's Wonder Woman, and the benefits for them were massive to the point that fans believed it deserved to be nominated for the Oscars. Crimes of Grindelwald is going to make money no matter what, but now it's actively alienating queer fans desperate for representation in the Harry Potter universe, and anyone who finds themselves unable to accept that Depp will just be in these movies. Across Potter fandom, there'll be a bevy of fan art and fan fiction that rectify the problem presented by Fantastic Beasts. Not just Dumbledore being openly gay, but art that "recasts" Grindelwald's role to someone else.

Warner Bros. has high hopes for this to be its next big money maker, but the recent decisions the studios has made feel like it's actively trying to make this franchise unappealing to anyone but the most hardcore Harry Potter fans. With Hollywood being grilled about the various skeletons of abusers and harassers in their closet, Depp's abuse allegations hover around him. Even Daniel Radcliffe, who actually played Harry Potter, is on the record questioning the casting of Depp despite the news surrounding him at the time. And in a world where Ridley Scott openly dropped Kevin Spacey from his movie once the abuse allegations hit and recast his role with Christopher Plummer -- who later received awards for basically being an understudy -- Fantastic Beasts 2's sticking with its casting just looks hopelessly foolish.

Grindelwald isn't due out for another 9 months, and in that time, there's going to be more discussion around casting Depp in this role. If some of the original responses about Depp are any indication, those discussions are not going to do the film any favors.

Those within Harry Potter's enduring fandom are no strangers to being forced into a difficult position. As Buzzfeed's Alanna Bennett pointed out in 2016, the community changed what it meant to be a fan on the Internet, and now can't find it within themselves to walk away from something that is more interested in sticking around and earning more cash than in telling a truly engaging tale. Once news of skirting around Dumbledore's sexuality hit social media, the reactions were understandably filled with frustration and anger.

And who can blame them? The idea of a five-film franchise based on a single book was never going to be an easy sell, even with the clout Potter has managed to hold onto for so long. When it came to the inclusion of Dumbledore in the story, there was literally only one job Crimes of Grindelwald had to do, and it appears to have botched it, completely.