So We’ve Got a Question: Where Is Tina Goldstein?
Nothing gets us going more than new content from the Wizarding World, be it the cast reunion for the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the new game Hogwarts Legacy, or the upcoming Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. For the latter, we finally got the trailer on Monday. The fandom had a field day. There was so much new to discover and enjoy. Aberforth is in this? Jacob gets a wand? What is this beast over the mountains? But one question stood out: Where is Tina Goldstein?
We were introduced to Tina right from the get-go in the first movie, in which she is undoubtedly one of the biggest driving forces. The movie would be very different without her. In the second film, although she’s on her own mission, she is still the reason Newt is finally willing to go to Paris to fight Grindelwald. It is fair to say she is definitely one of the main characters. So what is with the absence of the Auror from the trailer for the third installment?
The easiest explanation would be that something about her appearance is a big spoiler. We would like to give you an answer on what that could be, but we don’t have any idea. We already know who she is and what eventually happens to her, so why would anything in her appearance be a spoiler? Unless, of course, Newt and Tina finally got their act together, got married, and she is pregnant at home. Honestly, though, we would hate that on so many levels. That would mean we were deprived of the romance, wedding, and so many more Newtina feels.
One theory making the rounds is that she has been captured by Grindelwald and the team is trying to rescue her. Nice, sweet, and simple. But it still wouldn’t explain why there is not a glimpse of her in the trailer. We are sure if that were the case, there would be at least room for a close-up without giving anything away.
Another possibility could be that she is hardly in this film. We know that Katherine Waterston, who plays Tina Goldstein, was part of the filming, but the duration of screen time is a secret. It’s possible that Tina is doing her own thing again in this movie. One of the biggest complaints about Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald was that it had too many plots. Can we assume that her story line got shortened? Maybe it will be a setup for the fourth movie? We would actually like that. It would give her character the type of important role that we missed with the core four in the last movie. The only bummer with this theory is that it might take another three years until we see the payoff.
And then there is, of course, the big elephant in the room. Katherine Waterston clearly spoke out on Instagram against the transphobic comments of J.K. Rowling. After doing so, she told the Independent, “I think because I was associated with a film project… Because I was associated with Fantastic Beasts, it felt important to communicate my position. One wondered if they might be grouped in with other people’s views by association.” It is a bold statement that suggests she wants to be less associated with the work of J.K. Rowling. But does it also mean she wishes to be out of the franchise altogether? Many of us struggle to see where to draw the line. While some former fans just left completely, a lot of us see that a movie franchise is more than just the writer. We wouldn’t blame Katherine, though, if she decided to distance herself.
Regardless of what the reason is, we wish we had answers. Maybe we will get to know; maybe we won’t ever get a reason. What remains is, we missed her in the trailer. Fantastic Beasts is not the same without Tina Goldstein, and we want to see her salamander eyes and fearsome magic skills.