Man, Gellert Grindelwald sure hates muggles, doesn't he?
The one-time lover of Albus Dumbledore, now genocidal maniac of the Wizarding World, makes his intent very clear in the latest Fantastic Beasts installment, subtitled The Secrets of Dumbledore. In an exclusive featurette from the movie for Collider, Grindelwald actor Mads Mikkelsen talks about getting behind the motivations of the Potterverse's worst villain arguably ever — Voldemort was pretty bad, for sure, but this wizard might be worse. Must've been a tough one to get behind, no?
Mikkelsen shares his thoughts:
"Grindelwald's a man who wants to make the world a better place. The means by which he wants to achieve that isn't necessarily what everybody else is agreeing on. Historically wizards and witches have not been treated well by people. We have to remember that people can also be very brutal, and that his hatred grew stronger and stronger."
Yep — sounds pretty bad to us, especially given "a better place" is just shorthand for "totally free of muggles." Mikkelsen looks like a striking replacement for erstwhile Grindelwald actor Johnny Depp, though, with the featurette boasting some longer clips of a conversation he has with ex-boyfriend Dumbledore at some point in the film's runtime. "With or without you, I'll burn down their road," he says.
The 56-year-old further gestured to the relationship between the "two biggest wizards," saying:
"Dumbledore and Grindelwald have created some very strong bonds, and they were sharing a common dream, and then it shattered. And now, the two biggest wizards seem to represent the two sides of this war."
It sounds like they were fabulous friends. What a shame that such an insignificant quarrel as disagreement over the extinction of the non-magic human race would bring them into blows. You can watch the rest of the featurette above, or exclusively on Collider's YouTube channel.
The cast of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore also features Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, William Nadylam, Callum Turner, Jessica Williams, Victoria Yeates, Poppy Corby-Tuech, Fiona Glascott, Katherine Waterston, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Richard Coyle, Oliver Masucci, and Valerie Pachner. Mikkelsen makes his debut in the film series, taking over the role of main villain Gellert Grindelwald after Johnny Depp was fired by Warner Bros.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore premieres in theaters on April 15.
Here's the official synopsis of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore:
"Professor Albus Dumbledore knows the powerful, dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald is moving to seize control of the wizarding world. Unable to stop him alone, he entrusts magizoologist Newt Scamander to lead an intrepid team of wizards and witches. They soon encounter an array of old and new beasts as they clash with Grindelwald's growing legion of followers."