Fantastic Beasts: Dumbledore’s Secrets, the new trailer arrives

Harry Potter fans have always dreamed of at least two elements of the wizarding world: the ticket for the Hogwarts Express train, to the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry of the same name, and Ollivander’s wand. There, the new trailer for Fantastic Beasts: Dumbledore’s Secrets (from 13 April to the cinema) crowns many fantasiesincluding the latter, and leaves many mysteries open.

Those who know the saga in fact know the idea that a Muggle (or no-mag), that is a human being without powers, does not have access to magic and that wizards and witches cannot use it among humans. This time, however, something changes: Baker Jacob (Dan Fogler) receives a wand from Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) to fight alongside him and together with the magizoologist Newt (Eddie Redmayne) the battle against one of the most powerful dark wizards ever, Grindelward (for the first time he has the face of Mads Mikkelsen, after the dismissal of Johnny Depp presumably due to legal problems with ex-wife Amber Heard).

The new trailer explains this clearly and repeatedly. And the message comes very strong: not even in the wizarding world must there be discrimination based on purity of blood.

The metaphor, especially in times of armed conflict like ours, about pure and mixed race comes with even greater power. JK Rowling, the mother of Harry Potter (the saga is published in Italy by Salani and in the coming weeks it will be enriched with new volumes), has always condemned racism and prejudice and has shown, for example in the characters of Draco and Ron, as thoroughbred wizards (without Muggle ancestors) can act diametrically opposite about those who do not possess magic. It is this elite that Grindelwald wants to protect, eradicating all kinds of aberrations of the race. Here because Harry Potter himself is a half-breedthat is, he has a Muggle parent (like Voldemort).

This is certainly the predominant aspect in this trailer full of ideas. Grindelwald yells at his followers that “our war on the Muggles starts today”. He is carried in triumph like a rock star as blow-ups of his face appear which feed the myth: “I will incinerate the world,” he promises.

On the other side we find the deployment led by Dumbledore, who incites us to remember the past to treasure it (and here also appears a moving flashback of the mother saga): «Memory is everything, without we are blind». There is Theseus (Callum Turner), Newt’s brother with an irony of his own, but missing Tina (Katherine Waterston), the future wife of the magizoologist. Of fifteen posters dedicated to individual characters – including Nose Teddy and Pickett – not one with his face exists, although he has been a mainstay of the franchise so far. The public has been wondering for weeks, citing various hypotheses, including the fact that perhaps, due to Covid-19, his role has been downsized. However she does not appear in the trailer at all, unlike her sister Queenie (Alison Sudol), who has gone to the dark side.

One of the most spectacular sequences of these new images features Credence (Ezra Miller), the key protagonist of the story yet still very mysterious. Also worth keeping an eye on is Abelfort (Richard Coyle), brother of Albus, who was previously played by Ciaràn Hinds (Deathly Hallows Part 2) and Jim McManus (Order of the Phoenix).

From golden snitch to Fanny, the nostalgia effect echoes everywhere to remind potterheads that the Wizarding World it remains a big family. Of course, the prequel franchise has never had the same impact (at the box office) as the main saga, but perhaps this time there could be a turnaround especially if, as can be deduced from the trailers, the focus is again on the magical world rather than on the Muggle world with some magical forays.

This third installment of five effectively marks the halfway point and sets the stage for the future of Fantastic Beasts. AND expectations remain very high.