Harry Potter fans’ loyalty was challenged when, on Jan. 31, director David Yates made a controversial statement regarding a character’s sexuality in the upcoming movie Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald during an interview.

From selling more than 500 million copies internationally to inspiring theme parks made in its honor, the Harry Potter series has touched hearts around the world – those of children, adults, readers and non readers alike. The fans’ love extends to the author, the woman who started it all—J.K. Rowling.

In November 2016, the readers’ long-standing desire for new Harry Potter content was fulfilled with the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The movie revolved around Newt Scamander, a character who held a small role in the original Harry Potter story. The film was not a disappointment, and most were excited for the next installment, Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald which will release on Nov. 16.

After Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, the last Harry Potter book, was released in 2007, Rowling announced that one of the series’ prominent characters, Albus Dumbledore, was gay, and that she had always seen him that way. Fans across the world were delighted to see her being more inclusive.

However, when the interviewer asked whether Dumbledore’s sexuality would be explored in the new movie, Yates said, “not explicitly.”

This has angered many due to the character of Grindelwald, the man Dumbledore supposedly loved, being a prominent character in the movie. They say, if the man he loved is so important for the movie, why would you not explicitly show he loved him?

Because Rowling is the screenwriter for the Fantastic Beasts movies, the controversy falls on her shoulders. Many are disappointed, or even angry.

“It’s good that she [Rowling] has a gay character… but this has kind of lowered my respect [for her],” Coppell High School Freshman Kirthika Piratla said. “What’s the point of making the character gay if you’re not willing to show that they are gay?

Although it is widely loved, Harry Potter has never been a model for extensive diversity. Some feel Rowling only announced she saw Dumbledore as gay in order to dispel the criticism .

“Especially in something like Harry Potter that touches all ages, I think it’s important to see that in every walk of life there are LGBT people,” Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) club sponsor Jessica Short said.

One fan tweeted, “the saddest death in Harry Potter is my respect for J.K. Rowling” and received more than 36,000 retweets and 101,000 likes.

I see why people could be angry, but I feel we should wait longer before attacking the writer. This is only the second film out of five in the series, so there is still time for development.

“I can’t tell you everything I would like to say because this is obviously a five-part story, so there’s lots to unpack in that relationship [with Dumbledore and Grindelwald],” Rowling said in 2016. “As far as his sexuality is concerned, watch the space.”

Perhaps this means the relationship will change throughout the next few movies, and at its peak it will be explicitly gay. If this is true, there is no reason for fans to be angry. In fact, doing this would be better writing than immediately portraying Dumbledore as in love with Grindelwald, without as much development.

In addition the to fact there are still three films coming out after Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, it is important to realize none of us have actually watched the movie yet. What if there is a valid reason Dumbledore is not explicitly shown as gay?

Rowling tweeted “[I am being] sent abuse about an interview that didn’t involve me, about a screenplay I wrote but which none of the angry people have read, which is part of a five-movie series that’s only one installment in.”

Resenting Rowling for a movie no one has seen yet, based on a single statement from an interview, especially when the statement was not even from Rowling herself, is unfair. One should not judge the writer until all five movies are released, and the story arc as a whole can be considered.

Follow Pramika on Twitter @pramika_kadari