The first official trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is here, which means that we're now free to make all the demands we want! After the Squib that was Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Harry Potter fans everywhere will expect certain things from the upcoming threequel, so let's find out what they're likely to be...
From way more screen time for a certain school to storytelling that doesn't feel like it's performed a Confundus Charm on its viewers, here are five things fans will want to see in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore!
Hold onto your broomsticks - it's going to be a bumpy ride...
5. More Hogwarts
When Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was released in 2016, the truth is we never expected to see Hogwarts appear in this spin-off series, but in 2018, we got to see it anyway, in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, a sequel that decided this sub-franchise should forget being its own, ahem, beast, and focus entirely on serving as a prequel to the Harry Potter series.
So now that we've had a slice of a pre-Harry Potter era Hogwarts, we'd like some more please! With that said, looking at the trailer, it seems we will be returning to the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as there's a scene that teases the return of the Room of Requirement. We wonder if they'll find a coherent script in there this time (one can only hope).
4. Harry Potter Characters
You might scoff at the suggestion that any character from the Harry Potter series could appear in the Fantastic Beasts movies, seeing as they span the period between 1926 and the 1940s, but seeing as we've already seen Professor Minerva McGonagall appear in Crimes of Grindelwald (who hadn't even been born at that point), they may as well shoehorn in some more familiar faces.
Of course, we already have the likes of Albus Dumbledore (played by Jude Law, who looks nothing like Michael Gambon in his flashbacks...), but Warner Bros. may as well go the distance and reintroduce the infamous Time-Turner and open up a Wizarding World 'multiverse' (seeing as every other movie franchise appears to be doing the same thing).
3. More Magic
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was a truly magical adventure that somehow managed to separate itself from Harry Potter just minutes in. Its sequel, however, undid everything, and is probably about as magical as Uncle Vernon. It's a bleak affair that takes itself way too seriously, and feels more like an incoherent political thriller about witches and wizards than anything else.
Needless to say, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore needs to do a lot of work to wow audiences, by unleashing as much cinema-worthy magic as possible. However, the trouble is the new movie does look very much like an extension of its predecessor, rather than revisiting the charm that made the first movie work so well. We'll just have to wait and see...
2. Coherent Storytelling
And that leads us nicely onto the awful script for Crimes of Grindelwald, which was written by J. K. Rowling herself (you're a genius when it comes to penning novels, Rowling, but from now on, please leave screenplays to the professionals). If you've seen the film, you'll agree that it's a complete mess that relies on convoluted storytelling, plot devices, and characterization.
It's more than likely that the new movie will do some damage control here, as the backlash to the 2018 sequel hardly went unnoticed. This time, Rowling will be co-writing the script (with Steve Kloves stepping in to lend a much-needed helping hand). Ignoring the mistakes of Crimes of Grindelwald would be a crime in itself, and would scream The Rise of Skywalker...
1. Final Movie in the Series
While Warner Bros. confirmed some years ago that the Fantastic Beasts franchise would span a total of five movies, it's possible that things have changed in the interim, especially following the poor reception to Crimes of Grindelwald. And perhaps even the global pandemic will play a role in something of a 'correction course' for the Harry Potter spin-off series.
It's possible then, that this could be the last movie, but on the other hand, it looks like things are finally starting to pick up traction where the overarching plot is concerned (Gellert Grindelwald leading fellow witches and wizards to war against Muggles, or NoMaj). Nevertheless, now that interest in the franchise has evidently been squandered, fans will expect closure pretty soon.
It might sound like we're not particularly excited about revisiting the Wizarding World, but oh we are! Harry Potter remains one of the most beloved franchises of all time, but cinemagoers have been stung many times over the years, with the Star Wars sequel trilogy being the best example.
Too often have we seen franchises with lots of potential suffer from poor storytelling or the lack of any sort of roadmap. Let's hope there's still enough magic left in the Fantastic Beasts franchise yet. Either way, the new movie will need to pull something other than a rabbit out of its hat.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore stars Jude Law, Eddie Redmayne, Daniel Fogler, and Mads Mikkelsen, and releases in theaters on April 8, 2022.