JK Rowling has today defended the casting of an Asian actress, Claudia Kim from Korea, in the role of Nagini in the upcoming Fantastic Beasts sequel. The main criticism of the casting is that Kim is the only Asian in the film and plays a reptile that acts as a villain’s slave.
Defending this, Rowling has now tweeted that Nagini is actually based on “The Naga” which are “snake-like mythical creatures of Indonesian mythology”. Indonesia comprises of a few hundred ethnic groups.
The Fantastic Beasts films have already been criticised after Rowling confirmed that Dumbeldore is a homosexual but then choosing to not explicitly state this in the film. The role of Dumbledore is played by Jude Law. Another controversy was the casting of Johnny Depp as Grindelwald after sexual abuse allegations were made against him by his ex-wife. Rowling has generally been criticised in the past for lack of diversity in her characters.
Click on the link below to watch the final trailer for Fantastic Beasts:
