AceShowbiz -

"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" producer David Heyman responds to criticism for the lack of diversity among the lead cast of the movie. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, David says, "Like all of Jo Rowling's works, ['Fantastic Beasts'] is populated with a variety of people and that will be the same in this series over the course of the films."

The producer, who has been involved with "Harry Potter" franchise since the very first movie, explains, "There will be people of various types of ethnicities. In New York in the 1920s, there was a segregation between white and black, the neighborhoods were largely separate, and that is reflected in [the film]. But the wizarding world is a much more open and tolerant society where people of color and different ethnic backgrounds exist harmoniously together. There are people of color filling this world in an organic way."

Back in August, J.K. Rowling took to Twitter to react to the diversity criticism, telling a fan, "@Vividscarletsky Everyone in #FantasticBeasts is not white. Perhaps wait until you see the movie to judge? It is a trilogy and all the characters have not been revealed or cast yet."

"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" starring Eddie Redmayne, Colin Farrell, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler and Ezra Miller is expected to hit U.S. theaters on November 18, 2016.