It’s been a weird old time in the Wizarding World of late. Since the disappointing Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald – which saw the Potter universe’s weakest ever box office haul amid shaky reviews – there have been all kinds of behind-the-scenes goings-on that have taken much of the shine off the wand-waving saga. But after several delays, the time is approaching to see if upcoming Beasts threequel The Secrets Of Dumbledore can rekindle some of the magic – with a brand new Grindelwald, a whacking great cliffhanger to follow up, and an escalating overall story to capitalise upon. The full trailer for the film is confirmed to arrive on Monday – but for now, we have a little teaser offering some tantalising glimpses of what comes next, preceded by 90-odd seconds of pure Potter nostalgia.
It’s inescapable that much of this teaser is all about reminding audiences why they fell in love with Harry Potter and the Wizarding World movies to begin with – surely helped by the recent 20th anniversary reissue of The Philosopher’s Stone and the upcoming Return To Hogwarts reunion special. But there are some very exciting things in that new Secrets Of Dumbledore footage to explore – for one, it seems we’ll be spending more time in that lovely cosy magic school (after an underwhelming revisit in Grindelwald), plus we get to see Mads Mikkelsen make his debut as the big bad wizard himself having taken over from Johnny Depp. All that, and there are moments of fantastic beastliness, there’s a new hair-do for Ezra Miller's Credence (last time – SPOILER WARNING – revealed to actually be a Dumbledore of some description), reminders of why Jude Law was one of the best things about the last film, a shot of Dan Fogler's muggle baker Jacob Kowalski carrying a wand, a little look at Jessica Williams as Ilvermorny (that's American Hogwarts) teacher Eulalie Hicks, and glimpses of Law’s Albus duelling with his apparent long-lost relative.
Curiously, there’s not much of Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander in this teaser – could it be that The Secrets Of Dumbledore suggests a film more focused on Albus and Credence? Or will Monday’s full trailer more clearly centre things around our beloved awkward Magizoologist? See you on the other side of the weekend to find out…
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore is due in UK cinemas on 8 April 2022.