Rowling's ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Hint Raises Questions

On Thursday, Potterheads far and wide learned some, ahem, fantastic news about the upcoming Harry Potter prequel series. At a global fan event on Thursday, J.K. Rowling announced there will be five Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movies. Yes, five. So why a whole quintet of flicks inspired by Newt Scamander’s 128-page textbook? When a fan tweeted this question, Rowling replied, “I think, when you realise what story we're *really* telling, you'll understand that it can't possibly fit in one movie!”

Oh, how cryptic. Now what story could that be? What tale warrants five whole feature films? What epic saga will play out on the silver screen?

Well, lucky for us Potterheads, the five-part flick reveal also showed up to the live-streamed event with a new Fantastic Beasts trailer. The video, which features talking heads by the cast, director David Yates, and Rowling, also maybe-includes a lot of maybe-clues regarding the story the movies will really tell.

“In Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, you’re learning about a part of magical history that’s talked about in the Potter books, but you never see,” the author of the series explains. And then, the preview cuts to a few newspaper clippings about a certain menacing wizard:

Yes, as in Albus Dumbledore's close friend/love interest-turned-sworn adversary Gellert Grindelwald. Later on in the trailer, the Dark wizard's name comes up again as a group of wizards discuss his attacks throughout Europe.

“They’re talking about the first time a wizard rose and threatened world order,” Rowling explains as the preview cuts to the back of a blond, havoc-wreaking mage's head. Could that head belong to a particular flaxen-haired Dark wizard who committed a lot of heinous acts throughout the 20th century? Hmmm?

It sounds like it could. Yates reportedly confirmed that both young Dumbledore and young Grindelwald will appear in Fantastic Beasts:

Yesssss.

Might the five-part franchise depict Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s complex relationship? And might all of the events throughout the five-part franchise lead up to the legendary Dumbledore vs. Grindelwald battle of 1945? Will we get to see this iconic moment in wizard history on the big screen?

If only there was a spell that could make all five of these movies get here already.

Images: Warner Bros. Pictures (2)