Fantastic Beasts 2: Trailers, Release Date, Cast, and News

The new trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald has arrived! Check it out here...

Spoilers for Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them lie ahead.

The magizoological exploits of Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander continue in this sequel to the 2016 Harry Potter movie series spinoff, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

While Fantastic Beasts 2 reunites Newt with American friends Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol) and Muggle Jacob Kowalski (Dan Folger), the stakes will rise significantly as Johnny Depp’s Gellert Grindelwald steps into the sinister spotlight, concocting a dangerous new plot. Thankfully, a younger version of the sagely Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) will help tackle this threat.

further reading: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Ending Explained

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David Yates, who helmed the last four Harry Potter films, as well as Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, is directing this movie.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Trailer

We have the final Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald trailer at is the best yet. Not only do we see a few proper conversations between Newt and Dumbledore, but we get a better glimpse at the Parisian wizarding world than ever before, and get further glimpses into the wonders and horrors of this period magical universe in general.

There’s also Nagini, Newt’s brother, and a look at what Dumbledore see when he peers into the Mirror or Erised. Check it out…

Here’s the second trailer…

Here’s the first trailer:

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Release Date

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald arrives on November 16. It will be the second entry of what’s being planned as a five-film franchise.

further reading: The Must See Movies of 2018

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Details

Harry Potter fans now have a new word to add to their lexicon: Non–magique. That’s the nomenclature that the wizarding communities of France embrace regarding non-magical people, as will be revealed in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, according EW. Of course, it contrasts with the tried-and-true U.K. Hogwarts-standard word, “muggle,” and, as we learned in the original Fantastic Beasts, the American term, “no-maj.”

As more intriguing plot details about Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald emerged, discussion about the titular fantastic beasts themselves has been oddly scarce. However, it seems that Newt Scamander’s mischievous suitcase dwellers will still live up to the billing of the first part of the sequel’s title.  

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further reading: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Review

Executive producer David Heyman reveals that while the plot has shifted away from the escape of the beasts in the first film, they will still be a strong presence in the Paris-set sequel. As Heyman explained last December to EW:

There are as many beasts in the film as in the first. But the main driver in the first film was finding the beasts. That’s not the driver in this film, it’s not a central part of the plot. But beasts feature in the film and feature strongly.”

Eddie Redmayne, who stars as the keeper of the movie’s magizoological menagerie, Newt Scamander, also confirms that we’ll see the return of purloining platypus the Niffler, as well as Pickett, the Bowtruckle (green twig pet,) that lives in Newt’s pocket. However, he also teases the presence of a new creature that originates from a continent that’s not typically referenced in the Harry Potter mythology. According to Redmayne, “There’s a Chinese creature that’s formidable.”

The Fantastic Beasts sequel’s eponymous “crimes of Grindelwald” will not fall under the jurisdiction of either the NYPD or MACUSA. While the first film set itself in New York City, introducing audiences to the hierarchy of the wizarding community of the United States, executive producer David Heyman tells EW that the 1927-set Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald will take place “almost entirely” in Paris, France.

Before the reveal of Paris as the sequel’s primary setting, Heyman previously explained at length:

“We delve deeper into [J.K. Rowling’s] wizarding world — we’re in Paris, we’re in London and New York — the world is expanding. As you can tell from the [cast photo], we’re following quite a few characters. The new film has a very different feel than the first. It’s got a thriller quality. And it’s also a story about love and passion and all its forms — paternal, romantic, political. And it’s just a thrilling and very fun adventure. We took all we’ve learned from one and just expanded that and created a richer, deeper and more thrilling film which I’m excited to be a part of.”

Consequently, it’s looking like the Fantastic Beasts films are serving to paint a wider picture of the wizarding world, which introduces the possibility that future installments of the film series – planned for five films total – could become a continent-jumping global tour.

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Check out our gallery to see the larger version.

While Newt’s story is still central, the old friendship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald will take a dominant spot in the story this time, as we witness the latter becoming one of the most powerful dark wizards the world has ever seen (at least until that Tom Riddle kid shows up later in the mythology and starts calling himself Voldemort).

further reading: What Does Fantastic Beasts 2 Mean for Fantastic Beasts 3?

In the image above, Dumbledore is seen holding the mysterious black wand showed in the recent Twitter teaser photo opposite the famed Elder Wand, which Grindelwald is clearly holding. While details about the black wand on the right were initially a mystery, Harry Potter connoisseurs immediately recognized the skinnier wand on the left as the powerful Elder Wand, a prominent part of the wizarding mythology and one of the three Deathly Hallows.

In the Harry Potter books and films, the Elder Wand was famously wielded by Albus Dumbledore, later taken by Voldemort and eventually mastered (and subsequently destroyed) by Harry Potter himself. However, Fantastic Beasts big bad Gellert Grindlewald possessed it before all of them, having stolen it as a young man (played by Jamie Campbell Bower,) from Mykew Gregorovitch in a scene depicted in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.

further reading: Fantastic Beasts 2 Filmmakers on How They Brought Back Dumbledore and Hogwarts

That’s where the revelatory nature of the wand photo comes into play. Dumbledore would come into possession of the object after he famously defeated rival Gellert Grindelwald in a legendary 1945 duel. While that’s quite far away from the 1927 setting of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, we do know that the Elder-Wand-wielding Grindelwald will be present, now played by Johnny Depp, who will ignite a legendary rivalry with Albus Dumbledore, played here by Jude Law.

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Thus, with the first official cast photo showing Dumbledore holding the formerly-mysterious black wand, the wand teaser image pretty much confirms a major showdown of some kind with Grindelwald, which is exciting stuff.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Cast

Let’s start with the two newest additions!

Brontis Jodorowsky (Entebbe, Opus Zero) will play a character who’s well-known in the history of the Harry Potter universe. Jodorowsky will embody the role of Nicolas Flamel, an oft-mentioned legendary alchemist – several centuries old, thanks to the Elixir of Life – who is credited as the maker of the mythology’s original MacGuffin, the Philosopher’s Stone. Since the character was also said to be a friend of Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore (played this time by Jude Law,) expect Flamel to become a key character in the fight against Johnny Depp’s Gellert Grindelwald. 

Jessica Williams has also been cast for a mystery role. The actress, who gained significant exposure as a correspondent on The Daily Show from 2012-2016, has been quietly boosting her onscreen CV. She recently starred in the Netflix comedy movie The Incredible Jessica James, with previous film appearances in Hot Tub Time Machine 2, People Places Things and Delivery Man. She also fielded a 2014 recurring run on HBO’s Girls. – Long before all of that, she was part of the 2006 Nickelodeon comedy Just for Kicks.

Eddie Redmayne is, of course, back in the lead role of Newt Scamander, joined by Katherine Waterston’s Tina Goldstein, Alison Sudol’s Queenie and Dan Fogler’s (apparently un-Obliviated) Jacob Kowalski.

Then we get Johnny Depp in the role of Gellert Grindelwald, Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore (the younger version), Ezra Miller as Credence, Zoe Kravitz as Leta Lestrange, Callum Turner as Theseus Scamander, and Claudia Kim, who will play a version of Nagini, Voldemort’s notorious snake.

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David Sakurai will play a character named Krall, described as an “ambitious and sulky henchman” of Gellert Grindelwald.

Pottermore revealed more of the supporting cast, whose characters’ surnames will ring familiar to Harry Potter fans.

Wolf Roth will play Spielman

Victoria Yeates will play Bunty

Derek Riddell will play Torquil Travers

Poppy Corby-Tuech will play Rosier

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Cornell S John will play Arnold Guzman.

The names “Travers” and “Rosier” notably belong to two Death Eaters who, later down the line, will serve the evil Voldemort.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Story

From the official announcement comes the following story details…

J.K. Rowling wrote the screenplay for the film, which opens in 1927, a few months after Newt helped to unveil and capture the infamous Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. However, as he promised he would, Grindelwald has made a dramatic escape and has been gathering more followers to his cause—elevating wizards above all non-magical beings. The only one who might be able to stop him is the wizard he once called his dearest friend, Albus Dumbledore. But Dumbledore will need help from the wizard who had thwarted Grindelwald once before, his former student Newt Scamander. The adventure reunites Newt with Tina, Queenie and Jacob, but his mission will also test their loyalties as they face new perils in an increasingly dangerous and divided wizarding world.

The film expands the wizarding world, moving from New York to London and on to Paris. There are also some surprising nods to the Harry Potter stories that will delight fans of the books and film series.

Kayti Burt is a staff editor covering books, TV, movies, and fan culture at Den of Geek. Read more of her work here or follow her on Twitter @kaytiburt.