Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald will continue the Wizarding World franchise by diving into a story that fans have been curious about for years: the rise and fall of Gellert Grindelwald. We already know that we’ll be seeing Jude Law play Albus Dumbledore, but the sneak peek we got at CinemaCon showed off some more surprises that are in store.
Check the highlights below.
Newt at Hogwarts
The new trailer kicked off with a scene that felt all too familiar: a class of Hogwarts students are learning how to defeat a boggart, a creature that takes the shape of your worst fear. We see that a young Dumbledore is the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and the student that’s about to try his skills against the boggart is none other than a very young Newt Scamander. But, when he steps up to the boggart, it doesn’t turn into a monster. Instead, it turns into a desk.
“What are you afraid of, Mr. Scamander?” asks Dumbledore. The young wizard replies, “Working in an office.” It’s a cute scene that perfectly sums up Newt’s character. And it’s great to see Jude Law exuding the warmth we expect from Albus Dumbledore.
The War Begins
The rest of the trailer is quite chaotic. We see Grindelwald in front of a collection of wizards. “The old ways serve us no longer,” he says. A later shot seems to show them cheering him on, so it’s likely that this is the start of his army.
There are also a few new fantastic beasts that show up, including some giant cats that weren’t quite fully finished on the effects side. They have enormous yellow eyes and don’t look very friendly. There is also a shot of Grindelwald riding a flying carriage and firing his wand at someone below. From his bearded appearance, this might be during some kind of prisoner transfer. Possibly to or from Azkaban?
But, the big revelation came at the end of the trailer when we got to see none other than Nicolas Flamel.
The Alchemist’s Cookbook
At the very end of the trailer, we see a very old man step out of the shadows of a dusty laboratory. He introduces himself to Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) as Nicolas Flamel. Flamel mentions that he is older than anyone would believe. When he shakes Jacob’s hand, he actually is shocked at how young and warm it is. Jacob nervously says, ” You don’t look a day over 375.”
The actor playing Nicolas Flamel is Brontis Jodorowsky, son of acclaimed surrealist filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky. Brontis has appeared in many of his father’s films, dating all the way back to the 1970 midnight movie classic El Topo. In Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, he’s undergone extensive prosthetic makeup and costuming to appear as the ancient Nicolas Flamel. Exactly what role Flamel has to play in the story remains a mystery, but it seems like Newt is calling upon him for assistance. Could we possibly see how Flamel dies in the film?
Fans of J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World will have this and much more to look forward to when Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald opens in theaters on November 15 in Australia and November 16 in the US and the UK.
