“Fantastic Animals 3″: Johnny Depp’s replacement and everything you need to know about the saga

The last movie ofHarry Potter” premiered in 2011, but the saga persists in the cinema. For six years, the story starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint has built its future by looking back on the past. This is how “Fantastic Animals” was born, with other heroes and villains, but with the magic that characterizes it and that, ironically, premieres its new sequel this Holy Thursday.

The story so far

Set in the 1920s, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” (2016) features Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), a wizard specializing in dealing with magical animals, whose carelessness causes several creatures in his care to escape. To get them back, he enlists the help of witches Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) and her sister Queenie (Alison Sudol); as well as the ‘muggle’ (non-magical) baker Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler). These characters come to face the magician Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp), who is arrested.

The story continued in “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindewald” (2018), where the evil wizard escapes from captivity to spread his message of violence throughout the world. Meanwhile, Scamander, Kowalski and the Goldsteins end up in Paris looking for dangerous wizard Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller); who turns out to be the long-lost brother of Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) and now an ally of Grindewald.

In the premiere film, “Fantastic Beasts: Dumbledore’s Secrets” (2022), the story jumps to the 1930s, where Grindelwald (now played by Mads Mikkelsen) tries to position himself as the most influential wizard in the world, for which he draws a magical creature known as a qilin. To stop him, Dumbledore recruits Newt Scamander, his brother Theseus Scamander (Callum Turner), and other wizards. In the process, they have to face Credence as well.

The story behind the film

The third installment of “Fantastic Beasts” made news even before it was released. First, for being one of the films whose production was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic; then by the abrupt departure of Johnny Depp, as Warner Bros. production company) asked him to step aside after losing a legal battle in the United Kingdom related to the accusations made by his ex-wife Amber Heard, that the actor physically mistreated her and psychologically. And recently, Ezra Miller’s future in the saga is uncertain after being arrested for disorderly conduct and harassment.

But one of the film’s plots has its origins outside of the novels. In 2007, months after the last book in the saga was released, JK Rowling, creator of the saga, revealed that Albus Dumbledore was gay, in addition to having a love affair with Grindelwald that ended when the latter revealed his evil plans . The new film is expected to develop the story of this relationship.

Additionally, this is the first “Fantastic Beasts” movie that hasn’t been written by JK Rowling alone. Co-writing is Steve Kloves, who wrote the script for all eight tapes of the young magician. In a way, it is a return to the origins.