The Harry Potter movies are some of my favourite films of all time, I especially love the spin-off films of Fantastic Beasts set in the same Wizarding World debuting in 2016. The overall storyline is based on the defeat of Grindelwald with many challenges on the way. However, I feel this movie series has a hidden theme that is aimed at a certain audience, showing the life of someone living with Autism.
These films introduced Newt Scamander to the movie screen who is a magizoologist and the author of "Fantastic Beast and where to find them" in said movies. Newt is one of the main characters in the series and has many traits that lead me to believe he is on the spectrum.
One of the biggest indicators would be his eye contact. Newt Has very poor eye contact with people and can often be seen looking at the ground or at someone's shoulder. This is a common trait in people with autism as it stems from many of their social anxieties or hatred toward eye contact.
Something that people may not have noticed is that Newt Scamander has a big fixation on animals. From a young age, Newt has always been obsessed with magical creatures such as his beloved Niffler or Bowtruckle. Another trait of someone on the spectrum would be fixations and obsessions like these on certain things.
In an interview with Digital Spy, Eddie Redmayne who plays Newt Scamander believes that the character he plays is autistic. He says that Newt has certain qualities such as his eye contact and the way he walks that he had discussed with J.K Rowling prior to filming the first film, which leads him to believe he has Aspergers in the actor's opinion.
At the time of writing this blog, only the first two Fantastic Beasts are released and are set in the 1920s when Autism hadn't really been studied so it is uncertain whether or not it will be mentioned in the next few movies. However, since autism started to come to people's attention in the early 1940s and the last Fantastic Beast movie is rumored to be based in 1945, it's still a possibility.
Newt Scamander is my absolute favourite character in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter as I love his personality and I find him relatable. Being diagnosed myself, I am delighted to see that my favorite character has traits of autism too. It may have been something that many people would have missed and it just goes to show you never know who may have autism.