At San Diego Comic-Con 2018[1], Warner Bros. unveiled a new trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald[2], the second instalment in Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling's expanded wizarding world, which returns to Europe after its New York-setting in 2016's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them[3]. The sequel is centred on a young Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) teaming up with his former student – now a self-proclaimed magizoologist and author – Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) to thwart dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) as he starts gathering followers to further his agenda of wizards and witches grabbing power from the Muggles.
The new Crimes of Grindelwald trailer further sketches out Scamander's backstory and the state of the wizarding world in early 20th-century, introducing us to Hogwarts decades before we know it as. Grindelwald has escaped custody as promised after his capture at the end of the first film, which has prompted Dumbledore to secretly employ Scamander, much to the ire of the Ministry of Magic. The trailer even includes a look at alchemist Nicolas Flamel (Brontis Jodorowsky), the maker of the Philosopher’s Stone. He was mentioned by name in the Potter books, but this will be his first appearance in the flesh.
Written by Rowling herself and directed by Potter film franchise veteran David Yates, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald finds Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, and Ezra Miller reprising their roles, respectively, as an Auror and Scamander's love interest Tina Goldstein, WWI vet and a friend of Scamander, Jacob Kowalski, whose memory was wiped at the end of the first film being a No-Maj, a Legilimens and sister to Tina, Queenie Goldstein, who's also a love interest for Kowalski, and...