Movies
Fantastic Beasts 3

Does Fantastic Beasts 3 Have A Post-Credits Scene? What To Know

In case you don't plan on watching it yourself.

by Ani Bundel
Warner Bros. Pictures

When Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was initially announced as the new Harry Potter spinoff franchise, it was billed as a trilogy of movies. Since then, it has expanded, with a planned fourth and fifth installment. Although Warner Bros. Pictures hasn’t actually greenlit those installments yet, it stands to reason that the film’s credits would sneak a teaser in there. So, does Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore include any post-credits scenes?

Warning: Spoilers for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore follow. Each installment of the Fantastic Beasts franchise has featured Grindelwald (in various formats, played by different actors) as the leading antagonist. The latest film, The Secrets of Dumbledore, began with him managing to bribe his way out of any charges stemming from his Muggle-massacring ways. It’s an important time in the Wizarding World; the international elections for the Supreme Mugwump were underway, and newly cleared Grindelwald decided to throw his hat into the ring.

Ridiculous title aside, Grindelwald was convinced his path to world domination and Muggle eradication was winning the election. Knowing he could not be elected outright, he attempted to rig it with an undead enchanted Qilin (a deer with golden scales). Qilin can see into the souls of the candidate and reveal which was the purest of heart — and the undead one Grindelwald made sure was swapped in would indicate him.

Dumbledore and Newt manage to thwart his plan by bringing a real Qilin to the party, but once again, Grindelwald escapes in the aftermath. However, fans who were hoping to get more insight into how this would lead into future films were disappointed to find there was no post-credits scene.

If Fantastic Beasts were a Marvel movie, it might have had one. But the Wizarding World doesn’t roll like that. None of the Harry Potter films ever had post-credit scenes back when they were box office hits from 2001 to 2011. The new franchise has continued that tradition. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them didn’t have a post-credits sequence; neither did Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. It follows that the new film, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, doesn’t have one either.

There’s a good reason for that, and it’s not just because it’s more of a superhero movie tradition. The Marvel movies have post-credit sequences because the movies are filmed years in advance. (The sheer amount of post-CGI work demands it.) And the subsequent films are (usually) already scheduled when the current one arrives, so linking the stories together isn’t difficult.

Fantastic Beasts, on the other hand, doesn’t work like that. As I mentioned, the following two films aren’t even guaranteed yet — they’re planned but not greenlit. Why make a post-credits scene when you’re not sure there will be a next film to tease?Plus, making a post-credits sequence when the next film’s details haven’t been worked out is also a bad idea, just in case things change during filming.