The Harry Potter prequel spinoff film is the third movie in the Fantastic Beasts series. “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” is now being released in theaters on April 15th, 2022, rather than July 15th, Warner Bros. has announced.
Next Spring, one of the biggest film franchises of the past 20 years returns! “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” is written by renowned “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling and directed by David Yates. The series will continue to star Eddie Redmayne as magi-zoologist Newt Scamander and Jude Law as a young Albus Dumbledore.
As you may remember, YEM had the privilege of interviewing related “Harry Potter” actors Nicholas Podany (Albus Potter in the Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) and Joshua Shea (Young Newt Scamander in the 2018 film, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald) in the past. It’s certainly not out of the question there may be more interviews ahead YEM fans!
Here’s what you need to know about the upcoming movie:
Several years after the ‘Crimes of Grindelwald,’ the new film takes place in both Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Berlin, Germany. This will likely lead to the wizarding world’s involvement in World War II. With Grindelwald’s evil power rapidly growing (now being played by Mads Mikkelsen), Albus Dumbledore entrusts Newt Scamander and his friends on a mission that will lead to a clash with Grindelwald’s army. As the title suggests, the story will shift its focus to the Dumbledore family, and so far, there are three Dumbledores who can appear in Fantastic Beasts 3: Aurelius Dumbledore, Albus Dumbledore, and Aberforth Dumbledore.
A few other things to note:
Jessica Williams’ character, charms professor Eulalie “Lally” Hicks, will play a more significant part in the upcoming movie. She briefly appeared in “Crimes of Grindelwald” when alchemist Nicolas Flamel spoke to Lally via her portrait inside a book. On Twitter, J.K. Rowling shared “you only see a HINT of Lally in Fantastic Beasts 2. Her true glory is revealed in FB3.”
It’s been previously reported there will be a total of five “Fantastic Beasts” movies made. However, some recent Internet rumors suggest this may no longer be the case, and this could be the final film instead. In reality, the future of the series may depend upon both the movie theater box office and streaming numbers after the release of this latest movie.
The franchise has had some difficulties in recent years, with Johnny Depp (who played the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald in the 2nd film) going through a very public court battle which in turn hurt his reputation with the general public. For this reason, his role had to be re-cast in this third “Beasts” film. Author J.K. Rowling’s scripts then came under fire, particularly when “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” shocked Harry Potter fans by introducing a secret brother of Albus Dumbledore. Then, a much larger controversy erupted for J.K. when Rowling made unpopular comments in regards to the transgender community on social media in 2020.
