Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them introduced a fresh cast of characters to the Wizarding World, but the sequel, The Crimes of Grindelwald, will dive back into the Harry Potter canon and bring us some familiar faces in their younger days. For instance, Johnny Depp’s titular dark wizard and Jude Law’s Albus Dumbledore. But what other Potter character would star Eddie Redmayne want to see in the prequel movies?
While speaking to CinemaBlend, Redmayne knew his answer to this question straight away. He wants a young Hagrid to turn up in a future Fantastic Beasts film. And he’s been pestering J.K. Rowling about it on set, too.
“Hagrid. And I’m secretly hoping that at some wonderful point, maybe if I say it enough times to J.K. Rowling, like a little mini Hagrid might arrive.”
Having Hagrid in the franchise would actually make a lot of sense. Like Redmayne’s Newt Scamander, Rubeus Hagrid, whom fans know as the groundskeeper of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is a great lover of magical creatures. In fact, much like Newt, he also keeps them despite the danger they could do if they got loose. In established lore, Hagrid isn’t born until 1928, with Crimes set in 1927. So if he did appear in, say, Fantastic Beasts 3, the half-giant would have to be a baby.
However, maybe Rowling could make his age up to whatever best suited the story. That appears to be what she’s done with Professor McGonagall, who’ll appear in Crimes as played by actress Fiona Glascott. This doesn’t fit with the fact that the Hogwarts tutor was born in 1935, as established by the writer in The Order of the Phoenix, but Rowling’s clearly changing things up a bit here.
While we wait to see if Eddie will get his wish, know that you can enjoy Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald when it hits cinemas on November 16th.