It might be hard to believe, but the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is still expanding even after the 20th anniversary of the first film The Sorcerer's Stone. The Fantastic Beasts series of films — which are prequels that take place some 60 years prior to Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson’s seminal roles as Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger respectively — continues to follow the adventures of magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne).
Set in the Interwar period across the United States and later Europe, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and its sequel The Crimes of Grindelwald set the stage for the rise of dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (played by Johnny Depp and now succeeded by Mads Mikkelsen) and his eventual battle with a young Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law). While this battle between good and evil might seem simple enough, the incredibly large cast of characters and longwinded plot threads and twists present a complicated, and even bloated, story.
J.K. Rowling had revealed plans for Fantastic Beasts to be a five film franchise, plotting out the story straight to film rather than as book adaptations like the original Potter films had been. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is the third and latest entry into the franchise and follows Newt, Dumbledore, and others in an attempt to stop Grindelwald’s growing following and support. Here’s everything you need to know to catch up for The Secrets of Dumbledore.
Newt Scamander and Friends
Before he became the famed author of the Hogwarts textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Newt Scamander was a magizoologist who traveled the globe in the beginning of the 20th century to research the magical world’s most fearsome creatures and legendary animals. In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Newt is tasked by Albus Dumbledore to return a thunderbird back to its home in Arizona. Newt’s arrival in New York City is a seminal one for the franchise, as we got to see how magical life is in the United States rather than solely in London and Hogwarts. But Newt’s mission to bring the thunderbird home is halted as a strange creature — an obscurial — wreaks havoc throughout the city. In an effort to find the obscurial and a range of other escaped creatures before they destroy New York, Newt befriends some new allies: ex-auror (a wizard cop) Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), her sister Queenie (Alison Sudol), and No-Maj/Muggle Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler). Together, they find out that the obscurial is actually a young man, Credence (Ezra Miller), who’s been groomed to destroy and unleash his power by the dark wizard Grindelwald. While Credence is seemingly defeated — more on him later — and Grindelwald is arrested, Newt must say goodbye to his friends, even wiping Jacob’s memories of all their magic, and report back to Dumbledore in England.
But Newt is soon reunited with his friends in The Crimes of Grindelwald. Informed by his brother Theseus (Callum Turner) that Credence is still at large, now in Paris, and that Grindewald has escaped custody, Newt encounters his friends from New York and enlists them to retrieve Credence before Grindelwald can get his hands on him. All the while, Newt also pines for his longtime crush Leta Lestrange (Zoë Kravitz), who happens to be Theseus’ fiancé. The love triangle comes to a head in the film’s climax as Grindelwald recruits some of Newt’s friends into his cult of dark magic and wizard supremacy. Leta sacrifices herself so Newt and the others can escape, while Queenie leaves Jacob to ally herself with Grindewald. Newt and his friend find themselves in a dark place, as one of their own has joined the dark side. In The Secrets of Dumbledore, it remains to be seen whether Queenie will reunite with her sister Tina and the love of her life Jacob. After the events of the first two films, the team is definitely on some shaky ground.
Dumbledore and Grindelwald
While the first Fantastic Beasts film seemed to center around Newt Scamander and his adventures with magical creatures and animals, by the end of the film, it was clear that these prequel films are really a vessel to tell the tragic love story and rivalry between Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald. Prior to the events of Fantastic Beasts, Dumbledore’s relationship with Grindelwald and his family history have only been touched upon in the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2.
Dumbledore and Grindelwald had set out to find the Deathly Hallows — the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility — in an effort to gain power and advance their revolutionary ideas about wizards supplanting muggles for “the greater good.” At the same time, the two shared a romantic relationship. But when Albus’ brother Aberforth (played by Richard Coyle in The Secrets of Dumbledore) tries to stop Dumbledore’s involvement with Grindelwald, a three-way duel led to the death of Albus’ younger sister Ariana. This led Dumbledore to ultimately split from Grindelwald and his revolutionary goals.
By the events of Fantastic Beasts, Grindelwald has been amassing a following for his movement towards wizard supremacy. In The Crimes of Grindelwald, it is revealed that Dumbledore and Grindelwald had made a blood pact to never fight one another. Of course, the two will eventually have to face in an ultimate battle that puts Gellert Grindelwald in Azkaban prison. But it remains to be seen whether their blood pact will be destroyed in the upcoming third film or if their rivalry will continue to unfold through the final planned two films of the Fantastic Beasts franchise.
Aurelius Dumbledore
Credence Barebone, or Aurelius Dumbledore as he is revealed at the end of The Crimes of Grindelwald, is a bit of a wild card. His presence in these films is the most mysterious and unexpected since the character has never been mentioned in any of the prior films and books. When Newt and his friends first encounter Credence, he is one of the adoptees of the New Salem Philanthropic Society, a staunch organization wanting to reveal and defeat the witches and wizards who live among everyday humans. Mary Lou Barebone (Samantha Morton) had been an abusive, adopted mother — so violent and oppressive that it eventually led Credence, an obscurial, to unleash all his power that threatened New York City. Credence eventually escapes alive to Paris where he befriends Nagini (Claudia Kim), a shapeshifter who turns into a snake and would later go on to become Voldemort’s pet.
Much of the mystery around Credence is his lineage, and while some thought him to be part of a prophecy linked with the Lestrange family — Leta, as it turns out, had let her infant brother Corvus Lestrange drown in a wreckage on the way to the United States — it is Gellart Grindelwald who finally reveals the truth. As Credance succumbs to Grindelwald’s promise of the truth, the name of Aurelius Dumbledore is restored.
Is it possible that Albus Dumbledore’s younger brother has been kept a secret all this time? And if so, what is his role in the battle between Grindelwald and Dumbledore? Perhaps all will be revealed when Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore hits theaters on April 15.