Untitled third Fantastic Beasts film

The untitled third Fantastic Beasts film is an upcoming fantasy film directed by David Yates from a screenplay by J. K. Rowling and Steve Kloves and a story by Rowling. An American and British co-production, it is the sequel to Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018). It is the third instalment in the Fantastic Beasts film series and the eleventh overall in the Wizarding World franchise. The film stars Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Callum Turner, William Nadylam, Poppy Corby-Tuech, Jessica Williams, Jude Law and Mads Mikkelsen.

Principal photography was set to begin in early 2020.^[1] On 16 March 2020, the same day shooting was to have begun, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted Warner Bros. Pictures to postpone the production.^[2] Filming officially commenced in September 2020, with a release date originally set for 12 November 2021.^[3] Following the pandemic setbacks and Johnny Depp's replacement with Mikkelsen, the film's release was pushed back to 15 July 2022.^[4]

Premise[]

Several years after the events of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, the story takes place partly in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and partly in Berlin, Germany and leads up to the Wizarding World's involvement in World War II.^[5][6]

Cast[]

• Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander:
  A British Ministry of Magic employee in the Beasts Division of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, as well as a self-proclaimed magizoologist. He played a part in remedying the events of a violent attack in New York City in December 1926 involving dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. He is a confidant of Albus Dumbledore, despite being an outcast from certain circles of the British Wizarding Community due to his checkered past.
• Katherine Waterston as Tina Goldstein: A promoted Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA in short) Auror and Newt's eventual wife.
• Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski: A No-Maj veteran of World War I, owner of a bakery, friend of Newt, and former lover of Queenie.
• Alison Sudol as Queenie Goldstein: The pretty and vivacious younger sister of Tina, who worked alongside her in the Federal Wand Permit Bureau after Tina was once demoted. She is a powerful natural Legilimens. After being convinced that Grindelwald will make her dream of marrying Jacob come true, she joins his side, eventually abandoning her lover and sister.
• Ezra Miller as Credence Barebone:
  The disturbed adopted child of Mary-Lou Barebone, severely abused and downtrodden. Enraged by people's treatment of him, during the incident of 1926 he set his Obscurus parasite loose in New York City, causing widespread destruction. He survived in a tiny Obscurus fragment and was sought out by Grindelwald. He initially believed he was Corvus Lestrange, Leta Lestrange's deceased half-brother. At the end of the second film, however, Grindelwald alleged that his real name is Aurelius Dumbledore and that his brother, Albus, would seek to kill him.
• Callum Turner as Theseus Scamander:
  Newt Scamander's older brother who is a dedicated and loyal employee in the British Ministry of Magic. He is famous for the title 'war hero' for his excellent show of bravery and generosity in the First World War. He constantly tries to tame Newt into more elegance so that he is better accepted in society. He lost his fiancee Leta Lestrange in September 1927, after she sacrificed herself in Grindelwald's rally in Pere Lachaise, Paris to save the Scamander brothers.
• Poppy Corby-Tuech as Vinda Rosier: Grindelwald's loyal right-hand follower.^[7]
• Jessica Williams as Professor Eulalie "Lally" Hicks: A professor of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
• Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore:
  An extremely influential and powerful wizard in the British Wizarding Community, known in the British Ministry of Magic and throughout the wider wizarding world for his academic brilliance, and a professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, who holds a blood pact with Grindelwald, his childhood friend, preventing them dueling each other.
• Mads Mikkelsen as Gellert Grindelwald:
  An infamous powerful dark wizard who caused mass violence, terror and chaos around the globe, seeking to lead a new Wizarding World Order based on his strong belief in wizarding superiority. He had a close relationship with Dumbledore as a teenager. Mikkelsen replaces Johnny Depp, who portrayed the character in the previous films.^[7] On replacing Depp, Mikkelsen noted that it would be a "creative suicide" to copy Depp's or Colin Farrel's portrayals as Grindelwald, having developed his own take on the character, and admitted that a "bridge" should be needed between Depp's performance and his own,^[8] having been a fan of Depp since his early films.^[9]
• Victoria Yeates as Bunty: Newt Scamander's assistant.^[10]
• William Nadylam as Yusuf Kama: A French Wizard of Senegalese descent and ally of Newt, who previously attempted to kill Credence while believing him to be his half-brother Corvus.
• Richard Coyle as Aberforth Dumbledore: Albus' estranged younger brother, who previously dueled both him and Grindelwald.^[11][12]
• Oliver Masucci as Head of the International Confederation of Wizards.^[13]

Production[]

Development[]

In October 2014, Warner Bros. Pictures announced the film as "at least" a trilogy with the third instalment to be released on 20 November 2020.^[14][15] In July 2016, director David Yates confirmed that J. K. Rowling had ideas for the third film's screenplay.^[16] In October 2016, it was reported that the Fantastic Beasts film series would comprise five films, and Eddie Redmayne would be returning to all films to play the lead role of Newt Scamander, with producers Rowling, David Heyman, Steve Kloves, and Lionel Wigram.^[17] In November 2016, Yates revealed that he would be directing all five films, stating "I love making films, and I've got a great team, all of whom are like family."^[18]

In October 2018, Johnny Depp hinted that he might return to portray Gellert Grindelwald for the third film, which would start filming in mid-2019.^[19] In November 2019, Warner Bros. put out a press release announcing the film’s location of Brazil, a spring 2020 start of production, and that Steve Kloves, who had previously served as screenwriter on the Harry Potter films, had joined the project as co-writer.^[20]

Casting[]

In March 2020, Jude Law, Johnny Depp, Ezra Miller, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Callum Turner, Katherine Waterston, and Jessica Williams were revealed to be reprising their roles from prior films, alongside Redmayne.^[21] On 6 November, Depp announced he would not reprise his role as Grindelwald after being asked by Warner Bros. to resign.^[22] Depp had shot only one scene in London after production started in September 2020, and his contract stipulates that he be paid regardless of whether the film was completed or not.^[23] Depp's salary was reportedly somewhere between $10–$16 million.^[24] On 25 November 2020, Warner Bros. announced that Mads Mikkelsen would replace Depp in the role of Grindelwald.^[7][25]

Filming[]

Principal photography was scheduled to begin on 16 March 2020 but was postponed on that very day due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[21] Filming officially commenced on 20 September, with safety precautions in place to keep the cast and crew safe from COVID-19.^[3][26] On 3 February 2021, filming at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in the UK was halted after a crew member tested positive for COVID-19.^[27][28][29] Composer James Newton Howard confirmed later that month that production had wrapped filming.^[30]

Release[]

The film is scheduled to release in the United States on 15 July 2022.^[31] It was initially scheduled to be released on 12 November 2021,^[32] but following Depp's departure, his role's recasting with Mikkelsen and the COVID-19 pandemic, Warner Bros. shifted the release to 15 July 2022.^[4]

References[]