You never know how good you’ve got it until it’s gone. When Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them arrived it served as a reminder of how special J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World truly was, retaining the magic of the earlier movies better than we could have hoped from a prequel. Now it’s time to ready our wands and prepare for another adventure with magizoologist Newt Scamander in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, a film that ties into some key events in Harry Potter lore.
Eddie Redmayne is back as Scamander, who journeys to Paris to aid a young Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) in his mission to capture the escaped villain, Gellert Grindelwald. While there has been some controversy surrounding the casting of Johnny Depp as the dark wizard, it remains to be seen if it will have any impact at the box office. Something tells me it won’t. If it makes you feel any better just imagine that Depp is a really bad guy getting his comeuppance at the hands of powerful mages.
The new trailer walks us right through the doors of Hogwarts, in itself very cool, and reintroduces us to characters played by Dan Fogler, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Ezra Miller, Carmen Ejogo, and Zoe Kravitz. Callum Turner, Claudia Kim, Jessica Williams, and Brontis Jodorowsky are just a few of the new additions. Here’s the synopsis:
At the end of the first film, the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) was captured by MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America), with the help of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne). But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escaped custody and has set about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule over all non-magical beings.
In an effort to thwart Grindelwald’s plans, Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) enlists his former student Newt Scamander, who agrees to help, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead. Lines are drawn as love and loyalty are tested, even among the truest friends and family, in an increasingly divided wizarding world.
Directed by David Yates, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald opens November 16th.
