Warner Bros. has unveiled title for the “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” sequel: “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.”
The announcement comes exactly one year since the second film in the “Harry Potter” prequel franchise will be released on November 16, 2018.
David Yates, who directed “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” and the final four “Potter” installments, is returning to helm the second film in the series from a script by J.K. Rowling. The spinoff franchise will consist of five films.
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” was set in the 1920s in New York City, was released last November and grossed $814 million worldwide. It is not known when the next film will be released.
Harry Potter readers and film fans may already be familiar with some of the crimes of Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. He first appeared in the Potter stories as the villain of Dumbledore’s generation, and was expelled from Durmstrang for ‘twisted experiments’ among other things.
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” was set some years after that time, and in the intervening years Grindelwald caused chaos across Europe, gaining infamy for trying to create a wizarding hierarchy to dominate all non-magical beings. He was eventually caught while disguised as Auror Percival Graves and imprisoned by MACUSA.
In New York, Grindelwald recruited a young man called Credence – plagued by a repressed, dangerous magical energy called an Obscurus – and tried to use him to expose the magical community to No-Majs.
According to Warner Bros., in the new film Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) has escaped custody and will be seen gathering followers to his nefarious cause.
This next film will also see Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) enlisted by Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) to try and stop him.
A new ensemble photo has also been released accompanying the film title reveal, featuring the first look at Dumbledore and Grindelwald in their rather dapper costumes.
There are also some fresh looks in the central cast, including Newt Scamander, Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) with a new haircut, Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol) and Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), who are all confirmed to return.
There are also some new characters: Newt’s older brother, Theseus Scamander (Callum Turner), and his fiancée, Leta Lestrange (Zoë Kravitz), who was seen in a photo in the first film.
Credence, played by Ezra Miller, is also confirmed to return, and features in the ensemble photo next to a mysterious character played by Claudia Kim. The character is known as a ‘Maledictus’: someone who suffers from a ‘blood curse’ that turns them into a beast.
Other characters from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, such as MACUSA President Seraphina Picquery (Carmen Ejogo), will also be back for this second adventure.
As well as Grindelwald and Dumbledore, other familiar names to Harry Potter fans are set to appear in the new film too, including alchemist Nicolas Flamel – first mentioned in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
In one year, return to the Wizarding World with Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. #MagicInProgress #FantasticBeasts pic.twitter.com/8aWj8xhGj5
— Fantastic Beasts (@FantasticBeasts) November 16, 2017
