In the last few weeks we’ve learned that the Harry Potter spin-off, Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them has expanded from a planned three films to five of them, that a young Dumbledore will feature in the sequels, and that Johnny Depp has come on board as the villainous Grindelwald.
The last fact ignited speculation that he would be Dumbledore’s lover in the movies. That actually seemed unlikely, as from Harry Potter we know the pair were estranged by the 1930s setting of Fantastic Beasts, and there is no definitive evidence they were more than friends as teens. Indeed, many wondered whether rather like the Potter books, Dumbledore would be essentially asexual, even if Rowling has said he’s gay elswhere.
However, now she’s hinted that the Fantastic Beasts movies may show the future Hogwarts headmaster as an openly and actively gay man. However, she’s still keeping people guessing, saying at a press conference about the relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, “I can’t tell you everything I would like to say because this is obviously a five-part story so there’s lots to unpack in that relationship. You will see Dumbledore as a younger man and quite a troubled man – he wasn’t always the sage. We’ll see him at that formative period of his life.”
She then added, “As far as his sexuality is concerned… Watch this space.”
That would suggest the films will actively address Dumbledore’s sexuality – something that’s still incredibly rare in big budget Hollywood movies, especially family films.- although at the moment it’s still a wait and see situation, where we could be getting a fully fledged gay character, or one where his sexuality is just vaguely acknowledged. At least it appears the movies won’t ignore it completely and reading between the lines we could be seeing Albus being rather conflicted about his sexuality.
Warner Bros. has revealed that Johnny Depp has signed up to appear in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. It appears they were hoping to keep the news a secret, but following the first press screenings of Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them, word slipped out that Depp has a small cameo. That caused Warner to confirm the news and let the world know he’d be getting a much largee role in the sequel.
When it was first announced that JK Rowling & Warner Bros. were planning on expanding the Harry Potter film universe with Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them, the studio was confident enough to say they were already planning a trilogy. Well, the first film hasn’t arrived yet they’re already going bigger, revealing that the hope is now to make five movies.
Synopsis: ‘Set in the wizarding world created by J.K. Rowling and directed by David Yates. The film stars Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne, Colin Farrell, Ron Perlman, Dan Fogler, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Samantha Morton, Gemma Chan, and Jon Voight.
It is not exactly a secret that JK Rowling is a massive supporter of marriage equality and LGBT rights, and it appears she has brought some deliberate parallels with that to the script for her Harry Potter spin-off, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. A new featurette gives us a few hints at that, with Rowling talking about the importance to her of heroes who are, “set apart, stigmatised or othered.”
For those who’ve been suffering major withdrawal symptoms since the last Harry Potter movie hit cinemas, hope is coming in the form of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a spin-off set in the same magical world, but several decades before Harry went to Hogwarts. David Yates is once more directing, and to show us that things are indeed the same but different, the first trailer and official poster have arrived.
When I saw the final Harry Potter movie at the cinema, at the end a guy behind me, who was probably about 20, said, “Well, that’s the end of my childhood.” It was one of the most oddly poignant remarks I’ve ever heard, as to an extent he was right – something he had grown up was coming to an end just as he himself was becoming an adult.