With Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them set in New York, the fan favorite Wizarding World setting of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was nowhere to be seen. For the upcoming sequel, though, The Crimes of Grindelwald, the action will return to Europe as Newt Scamander and co. travel to Paris. What’s more, a flashback to Eddie Redmayne’s character’s past will reintroduce Harry Potter’s beloved school to the franchise.
While speaking with CinemaBlend during a press visit in London, producer David Heyman was asked why it was decided to bring Hogwarts back for the second film in the series. He explained that it was just a natural development of including a younger version of Albus Dumbledore, as played by Jude Law, and even teased when we can expect to see the establishment’s cameo in the movie.
“It was something that evolved in the developing process. Because we were introducing Dumbledore, it felt right to bring that world back into this one. We’re there very briefly. You know, right in the middle of the movie, we go back for about 10 minutes to Hogwarts, and see it in 1927. It was a very organic natural part of the development process that took us back there.”
Speaking of Dumbledore, Heyman went on to say that the real draw of Crimes of Grindelwald should be the introduction of this new version of the future headmaster, not just the Hogwarts flashback. The producer promised that the sequel will offer a fascinating exploration of the character at a very different place in his life from when we knew him as a wise old man who had all the answers.
“Not [just] going back to Hogwarts. Going back to the world of… it’s seeing Dumbledore. How great is that? Seeing a younger Dumbledore, and seeing he and Newt’s first meeting, I think, will be a thing that the fans will really love. Because here is this character who’s so — you know, we have such a connection to, who is such a central part of the Harry Potter stories. And to see him earlier on, as it were, very much, related to the Dumbledore of… I’d say, ‘of old,’ but of future.
But at the same time, you realize in the Potter films that he was working things to his own end. He knew the path. He knew what was happening. He understood the back stories, and he was working Harry. I mean, in some ways, you could say, responsibly putting Harry into great danger, at times. But he had faith in Harry and his ability. While here, you see Dumbledore, and there are remnants of that and you see echoes of that. But he’s also wonderful and colorful and magical and wise, and the character that we know, but younger, and we see slightly different shades.”
Law himself has previously teased that what makes his Dumbledore unique is that he tried to bring “a sense of humor and mischief” to the part as well as conveying that he’s “a powerful and inclusive teacher.” The actor also made clear that he didn’t want to simply do an impression of either of the original Dumbledores, Richard Harris and Michael Gambon, in the role, as his Albus is so much younger than we’ve ever seen him.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is set to conjure its way into cinemas on November 16th.