Following an interview on The Today Show with JK Rowling and several cast members, the third and final trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald hit Twitter yesterday like a storm of thestrals – and a major fan theory was confirmed!
You’d have to have been living inside a magical suitcase for the past ten months to not know that the second installment of the Fantastic Beasts series, set in JK Rowling’s Wizarding World, will be released to theaters on November 16, 2018. In the previous two trailers, we have gotten a thrilling look at the rise of the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald – a man with a past closely intertwined with Albus Dumbledore’s. But this trailer dropped a major bombshell.
Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller), the orphaned obscurus in Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, has fled to Paris, France to find his family and ends up in a magical circus – Circus Arcanum. (We actually see a poster advertising this circus on a wall in the first film.)
The circus’ featured act is “The Snake Girl” – a character portrayed by Claudia Kim and only referred to by the name “Maledictus” until now.
But maledictus is not a name – it is a condition. Specifically, it refers to a blood curse, passed only from mother to daughter. In this instance, the curse causes the woman to turn into a snake, a condition that will eventually become permanent (which makes this very different from an animagus). But finally, her name has been revealed, whispered desperately by Credence in the trailer:
“Nagini”
Yes, at some point in the future, this maledictus – the Snake Girl, will turn permanently into a snake and find refuge with none other than Lord Voldemort.
During the interview on The Today Show, JK hinted that we would discover more “easter eggs” that tie the Fantastic Beasts series (set from 1926 – 1945) to the world of Harry Potter (set in the 1990’s).
See the entire interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=0Lqkv2bPGvM
But the naming of Nagini is not the only jaw dropping moment of the new trailer. We see more of the absolutely thrilling escape by Grindelwald (Johnny Depp), as we hear his words – “Join me…or die”.
Dumbledore (Jude Law) is working hard to recruit Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) to help track Grindelwald, and offers him a “calling card” to a safe house in Paris – should things go terribly wrong and he needs a cup of tea! (That calling card will no doubt eventually take Newt to the home and alchemy lab of Nicholas Flamel.)
The problem is – Newt has been banned from foreign travel after his escapades in New York, so he and Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler) use a port key – an old rusty bucket set on the White Cliffs of Dover – to sneak away to Paris undetected.
Once there, all manner of mayhem is erupting as Grindelwald is taking hold. The magic, beasts and battle scenes are breathtaking, driven by a staccato score by James Newton Howard. Tick tock, tick tock – the clock is ticking faster. Don’t miss the new trailer, linked below, and circle November 16 on your calendar!
