The new Fantastic Beasts film, titled The Crimes of Grindelwald, saw the return of many beloved characters, including Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), and lovable No-Maj Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler). However, it was Queenie Goldstein, played by Alison Sudol, who received extra attention from fans for her arc in Fantastic Beasts 2.
The story arc, which concluded with Queenie siding with Grindelwald, was so completely out of character for the formerly sweet and kind Legilimens that fans were outraged and thought it made absolutely no sense. However, Alison Sudol defended Queenie’s choice in Fantastic Beasts 2 during a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly to help fans understand that rather puzzling plot twist.
Sudol first heard about Queenie’s eventual change while promoting the first Fantastic Beasts film, and like fans reactions, was shocked. “I was like, wait, how did this happen?” Sudol said. “It took a long time in my imagination to even begin to understand. And throughout the course of the film, to just begin to reconcile who she was in the beginning with the choices that she makes and realize she isn’t a different person she’s just abandoned in a really untenable circumstance.”
“I feel like in some ways she’s too there and that’s part of the problem,” Sudol continued. “She’s tapping into all human beings at all times and that’s a lot for one person to hold and everybody closest to her is always going, ‘Don’t read my mind.’ So she has a huge power and yet is made to feel like she’s nothing and that’s bad. That could make anyone feel crazy. And women historically have this huge intuition and have been punished for that intuition forever. How many women have been in a mental institution because they’ve been called crazy when they’re just not allowed to be honest or be who they are?”
In terms of why Queenie stepped through the blue flames to join Grindelwald in his circle, she explains that came down to her feeling abandoned by those closest to her. “Jacob doesn’t come with her,” Sudol said. “It’s not so much about Jacob not coming with her to the dark side, it’s like, ‘Jacob, walk with me, we’re in this together.’ And she doesn’t have those two, so who does she have? Newt’s kind of betrayed her — he called her out, it was embarrassing. What does she have?”
Overall, Sudol thinks Queenie is going to fight for what’s right, but that right now, Grindelwald is the only one giving her hope – even though he’s really just trying to manipulate her. “I still believe in her heart of hearts she’s going over to fight what she believes in,” she said. “Grindelwald is saying, ‘we’re creating a different world’ and the world that she is in is broken. I don’t believe she’s turning evil. It’s more like she’s trying to find somebody who is giving her an option. He’s manipulating her but he’s manipulating everybody. He even did that with Dumbledore.”
Source: EW
