Second “Fantastic Beasts” Film Will Show Young Dumbledore at Hogwarts – Plus, More Highlights from “SFX”!

Movie magazine SFX has a Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them feature this month, and there are some highlights we think you’re going to want to hear about – including hints of where we’ll first see young Dumbledore in the second installment!

For those of us who have been following the films carefully, the information about Dumbledore is by far the most interesting part of SFX‘s interview with director David Yates. Here’s the scoop from Yates himself:

The worlds [of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts] are connected, and there are characters that exist in both. [We hear of] Dumbledore in this film, and we see him in the next part of the trilogy. He teaches at Hogwarts…The scenes Jo has written are lovely. The younger Dumbledore is delightful. He’s very mischievous and enormous fun and a bit of a political animal. I’[ve] yet to cast him…I’ve got a couple of ideas, though.

So tantalizing! Yates also had some interesting thoughts on the ongoing commoditization of the wizarding world and J.K. Rowling’s talents as a scriptwriter. Seemingly in response to a question about whether this new franchise is a money-grab – a criticism that has been rumbling around the fandom for a while now and recently re-emerged when it was revealed that the Fantastic Beasts series will be five films – Yates said,

I don’t think Fantastic Beasts was a business mandate, because [Rowling] doesn’t need the money. It’s both an affection for her audience and an affection for this world…And Jo has a whole wealth of material in her mind.

Of course, Rowling’s turn as a screenwriter has also been of great interest to fans – how will her writing style translate to film? According to David Yates, we won’t be disappointed:

[Jo] has quirks and qualities that seasoned screenwriters do not have; novelistic tendencies that we embraced slightly sometimes, because they were pure Jo…It was very important that Jo wrote the script because it’s her voice that’s at the heart of it.

Chew on that if you will, film buffs!

The article also referred to Colin Farrell as an “antagonistic Auror,” perhaps not surprising considering how formidable he’s appeared in trailers for the film. When asked if Graves was a villain, however, Farrell had this to say:

Villain? How dare you! So judgmental. No, no, he’s a good guy, the kind of guy you want to have a beer with, and some chicken wings.

It sort of looks like Graves might be a Grindelwald supporter, so I’m not so sure that Farrell’s assessment is accurate – riddles upon riddles!

The issue of SFX is on newsstands now, so be sure to pick up a copy if you’d like to read the rest of the feature!