Newt Scamander is not your typical Hollywood hero.

Eddie Redmayne's Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald character is unusually shy and reserved, and avoids making eye contact with most of the people he talks to, which has led some fans to speculate whether he could be on the autism spectrum.

Speaking to Digital Spy, the actor said that he believes that his magizoologist character has Asperger's.

Warner Bros.

"When he was first described by Jo [Rowling] in the first film there were various qualities – the way he walked, the way he looked, and his eye contact – was spoken about," said Redmayne.

"I think he is on the Asperger's spectrum. At that point, it hadn't been defined – that was in the '40s, I think – so those qualities were something, yes."

The best known portrayals of autism in film usually paint people on the spectrum as 'savants' – such as in Rain Man or, more recently, The Predator – who are set apart from those around them by their condition. It is rarely an incidental part of a character's makeup.

Saban Lionsgate

Positive portrayals in mainstream blockbusters are particularly rare – 2017's Power Rangers reboot movie was hailed as the first to feature an autistic character in the form of RJ Cyler's Blue Ranger, Billy Cranston.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald will be released on November 16.

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