The 'Fantastic Beasts' Sequel Finally Has An Official Title & It Will Give You Chills
All of the details about the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them sequel have finally been magically revealed. The franchise released the first official cast photo for the upcoming sequel, along with revealing its title and release date. The newest installment in the Harry Potter universe is called Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, making clear that the focus of the movie will be the dark wizard Grindelwald (played by Johnny Depp), whom fans first caught a quick glimpse of at the very end of the first Fantastic Beasts movie last year.
Aside from the new title, Warner Bros. gave fans even more to be excited about by dropping the first official photo of the movie's cast, including our first ever look at Jude Law as young Dumbledore. Though Eddie Redmayne's magical zoologist Newt Scamander will still be the main star of The Crimes of Grindelwald, the main conflict of the movie will be between Grindelwald and Dumbledore, with the former having escaped his imprisonment and beginning to recruit wizards to his evil cause, and the latter attempting to stop him. Obviously, Law's Dumbledore is a look at the powerful wizard that we've never seen before, trading in the signature long white hair of his old age from the original Harry Potter saga for a more manageable brown beard and mustache. Check out the first look at the new movie's cast below:
The cast photo also reveals a bunch of other exciting returns and new additions, including the confirmation that Ezra Miller's character of Credence will be in the new movie. Credence's fate was left unclear at the end of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, after he is revealed to be the host for a manifestation of dark magical energy known as an Obscurus and apparently dissolved by the Magical Congress of the United States (MACUSA). Other returning characters include Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, Katherine Waterston as MACUSA member Tina Goldstein, Dan Fogler as Newt's magic-less buddy Jacob Kowalski, Alison Sudol as Tina's mind-reading sister Queenie Goldstein, and of course Johnny Depp as the dark wizard Grindelwald.
Now let's talk about the new characters! Of course, there's Jude Law as Dumbledore, a powerful wizard devoted to stopping Grindelwald's evil plans. Claudia Kim joins the cast as Maledictus, who is described as having been afflicted with a blood curse that destines her to transform into a beast; she also seems pretty close with Credence in this photo. Zoe Kravitz will play Leta LeStrange, a character only mentioned in the first movie as an old flame of Newt Scamander's, but who is now engaged to Newt's older brother Theseus Scamander, the head of the British Ministry of Magic, played by Callum Turner.
Excited to see it yet? Well, along with this cast reveal, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald also unveiled its released date on Twitter. A video on the franchise's Twitter page reveals the new movie will be out in a year, on Nov. 16, 2018.
But thankfully, we don't have to wait a full year to find out exactly what The Crimes of Grindelwald will be about. Along with all of this other new info, Warner Bros. also released an official plot summary of the upcoming release, which you can read for yourself below, per Entertainment Weekly:
At the end of the first film, the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Depp) was captured by MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America), with the help of Newt Scamander (Redmayne). But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escaped custody and has set about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule over all non-magical beings. In an effort to thwart Grindelwald’s plans, Albus Dumbledore (Law) enlists his former student Newt Scamander, who agrees to help, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead. Lines are drawn as love and loyalty are tested, even among the truest friends and family, in an increasingly divided wizarding world.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald will hit theaters on Nov. 16, 2018.