Brace yourselves because the next instalment in the Wizarding World franchise (aka Harry Potter) is coming soon. Up until now, the details had been scant. But we have a bit more of an idea of what to expect when we head back into the Wizarding World in 2022 for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.
WARNING: This post contains spoilers for the 2018 film Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
In December, Warner Bros dropped a teaser trailer on us (which didn’t really help fill in any gaps). But then it gave us another and today, yet another, so now we have a better understanding of what to expect from Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore.
Let’s start with some context
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore picks up where the 2018 film The Crimes of Grindelwald left off.
The last film left us on a wild cliffhanger by revealing that Credence Barebone – who is working with Grindelwald – is actually Albus Dumbledore’s long lost brother Aurelius. Sure, this doesn’t fit the original Harry Potter storyline, but who cares? Not me.
This cliffhanger gives us a lot to work with for the third instalment. Either, Dumbledore always knew he had a secret brother, or perhaps his parents never told him and he’s as shocked as we are. OR Aurelius isn’t really his brother at all and this is some sort of trick (which means The Crimes of Grindelwald didn’t completely invalidate the original storyline).
Like the other two instalments in the franchise, The Secrets of Dumbledore is written by controversial Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and directed by David Yates. The film was produced by David Heyman, J.K. Rowling, Steve Kloves, Lionel Wigram and Tim Lewis. Neil Blair, Danny Cohen, Josh Berger, Courtenay Valenti and Michael Sharp served as executive producers.
The synopsis from Warner Bros:
Professor Albus Dumbledore knows the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald is moving to seize control of the wizarding world. Unable to stop him alone, he entrusts Magizoologist Newt Scamander to lead an intrepid team of wizards, witches and one brave Muggle baker on a dangerous mission, where they encounter old and new beasts and clash with Grindelwald’s growing legion of followers. But with the stakes so high, how long can Dumbledore remain on the sidelines?
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore cast
We’re getting more of Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander. And considering the title, we assumed we would see Jude Law reprise his role as a young Albus Dumbledore, this is confirmed of course.
While many of the other cast members will reprise their roles in the upcoming film – Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Callum Turner, Jessica Williams and Katherine Waterston – it was announced in 2020 that Johnny Depp would not be returning to his role as Gellert Grindelwald after the domestic violence allegations and subsequent legal issues he has faced since the release of The Crimes of Grindelwald. Instead, Grindelwald will be played by Mads Mikkelsen.
It’s also worth noting that Eddie Redmayne has similarly faced criticism for playing a trans woman in The Danish Girl. However, he has since apologised for this and condemned Rowling’s comments in a lengthy statement provided to Variety at the time.
Other confirmed cast members include William Nadylam, Victoria Yeates, Poppy Corby-Tuech, Fiona Glascott, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Richard Coyle, Oliver Masucci and Valerie Pachner.
Interestingly, Porpentina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) has been absent from trailers and even the newest posters Warner Bros. released today.
fantastic beasts and where to find Tina Goldstein pic.twitter.com/XXJaD4v55O
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But, Warner Bros. lists Waterston in its cast this morning. So….?
The good stuff (aka the trailers)
In December, we got a teaser trailer from Warner Bros. Here it is:
The Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore teaser trailer took a strange approach. It blended scenes from the Harry Potter movies with real-life footage of Potterheads cheering on the actors, dressed up as their favourite characters and buying themselves a wand from Ollivander’s at (probably) Universal Studios. There was also a cameo from a Lego man.
It basically spends 1 minute and 40 seconds being a hype vid for the Harry Potter fandom. Trying almost too desperately to remind fans the franchise exists.
The remaining 40 seconds, however, gives us a little bit of context.
“New adventures are on the horizon,” it begins.
Released a day later, the Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore trailer, however, filled in a bunch of gaps (but not too many):
Great, Grindelwald looks like he’s still solemnly up to no good. At least the Room of Requirement gets a shout out.
But today, we have been gifted another 2 minutes and 45 seconds of footage.
Yep, that was in fact Michael Gambon’s Dumbledore.
Albus Dumbledore is (unsurprisingly) centre-stage
The previous two films focused a lot on Newt Scamander, but it looks like he could be playing a more supporting role to Jude Law’s Albus. Opening with Gambon’s Dumbledore was definitely a hit right in the nostalgia.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is clearly heavy on the young Dumbledore vs Grindelwald as the latter wreaks havoc and behave as sinister wizards do.
Our war with the muggles begins today.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore release date
In a shocking announcement in September, Warner Bros revealed that the film has been brought forward to April, instead of the July release date we had all marked in our calendars.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore hits theatres on April 7, 2022. While you wait, why not check out every other major sci-fi, fantasy and horror flick set to release in 2022.
We’ve updated this article since it was first published and we’ll continue to make updates as we learn more, so stay tuned!