Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald will introduce Jude Law’s young Dumbledore into the mix as the threat of Johnny Depp’s Gellert Grindelwald increases. This doesn’t mean to say that magizoologist Newt Scamander will be pushed to the side, however, as we know that the future headmaster of Hogwarts will recruit the quirky animal lover to be his agent against the evil dark wizard.
We’re not quite sure why it is that Dumbledore can’t go after Grindelwald himself just yet, but star Eddie Redmayne has helped give us some insight into why Albus picks Newt of all people to fight his battle for him. The actor told CinemaBlend that Newt’s a favorite of Dumbledore’s due to his compassion and bravery. As well as his talent with magical creatures.
“I feel like Newt’s skillset is quite unique, and I don’t just mean with beasts. I mean with empathy. His capacity to see broken people and to reach out to broken people is a skillset which is pretty unique. And it’s one of the things that Dumbledore has always, since he was a kid, seen in Newt. And the complexity of the… if, you know, if it is building to a showdown between these two — [Jo Rowling]’s created a scenario that’s not as simple as the two can just face off. And actually, Dumbledore needs to recruit the skillset of Newt to help.”
As Redmayne alludes to, the real reason Dumbledore and Grindelwald cannot come face to face yet is because it’s a historical fact within J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World that the two great wizards don’t have their big showdown until 1945, which brings the First Wizarding World War to a close.
Similar to what we’ve seen before with Voldemort – though, strictly speaking, he came afterwards – Grindelwald will be attempting to start a revolution that will see wizarding kind rise up and claim the world. Right now, we’re not quite sure how Newt with his TARDIS-sized suitcase and magical menagerie will stop him, but if Dumbledore has faith in him, that’s good enough for us.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald apparates into theaters on November 16th.