New Fantastic Beasts Film: Grindelwald’s Return?
As the main book franchise ended around 10 years ago, and the films around five, many were excited for ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ to come out last year. Just before the first premiere, J. K. Rowling showed up out of the blue at a Q&A event with the cast in London last year. She revealed that Fantastic Beasts was to be a 5 film series, with the next films coming out within the next couple of years.
The second film is set to be released on November 16th 2018, and the title was announced last year to be ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’.
Grindelwald was a wizard who was friends with the 18 year old Dumbledore before he left him, turning evil on his quest for the Deathly Hallows. He was finally defeated by Dumbledore himself and sent to Nurmengard, the prison he himself built to hold his opponents.
The trailer was released 2 days ago and has been met with positive feedback by most fans. Dumbledore’s life when he was younger has always been a mystery to Potterheads (mega Harry Potter fans), so all are interested so see what secrets the film holds.
One of the things that most surprised fans was the fact that Nicholas Flamel, who was mentioned is the first book as the person who created the Philosopher’s Stone, was to make an appearance in the film. Flamel is a French wizard, and the trailer shows Newt traveling to Paris under the suspected order of Dumbledore.
Newt’s brother is also said to be making an appearance in the film, as is Jacob Kowalaski, a no-maj (the American term for muggle or non-Wizard) who had his mind wiped of all his magical memories at the end of the first film. Many super-fans were delighted to see him appear in the trailer in the magical world with his memory back.
Another character many fans were keen to discover about in the new film was Leta Lestrange, who was briefly mentioned in the first film. She is a relative of Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange, the two most devoted Death Eaters (Voldemort’s followers) in the main Harry Potter book franchise. We know that she used to be a close friend of Newt, but as Queenie Goldstein said in the first film, “She was a taker. You need a giver.”
Finally, we also know that Hogwarts makes an appearance in the film, and many were excited to get a glimpse of it in such an early time, and to see how it has changed. With Jude Law playing young Dumbledore, many have high expectations for the film.
Many merch collectors such as myself were also excited to hear that so far, two new pieces of merchandise were to be released, one as soon as next month: a collectible pocket figure to be released in April, and a new Thestral drawn carriage Lego set, said to be released with the film.
More information is yet to be released, but fans constantly have their ears and eyes out for new announcements. There is plenty of time between now and November, after all!
Watch the trailer here.