'Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore': 6 takeaways from new trailer

Johnny Depp has been replaced in the film that takes fans back to a series of familiar locations, including Hogsmeade, The Hog's Head Inn and the Room of Requirement

The trailer for the third instalment of the Fantastic Beasts series has landed. Starring Eddie Redmayne, Ezra Miller and Jude Law, the most recent Harry Potter spin-off prequel is set to be an action-packed fantasy drama, with a wizarding war, nostalgic locations and flash-forward cameos.

Here we look at the main takeaways from the three-minute teaser for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore:

1. Mads Mikkelsen replaces Johnny Depp as Grindelwald

In 2016's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and 2018's Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Johnny Depp starred as the evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald. However, after losing his libel case against The Sun newspaper, Warner Bros requested that he step down from the franchise in November 2020.

Depp had filmed only one scene as Grindelwald for Fantastic Beasts 3 before he was replaced by Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen.

In the trailer, we see Mikkelsen as Grindelwald, "the most dangerous wizard in over a century".

2. Muggles with magic?

The trailer teases a wizarding war being fought against muggles (a person without magical powers for the Harry Potter illiterate). In the team assembled by Albus Dumbledore (Law) and Magizoologist Newt Scamander (Redmayne), there is of course one muggle, Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler).

The character is handed a wand by Scamander as they seem to prepare for battle, to which Kowalski replies, "Are you kidding me right now?" The wand is a Christmas gift from Dumbledore, Kowalski later jokes to a Hogwarts student.

We see Kowalski waving the wand, but we never see him perform a spell. So is it real, or is it a way to disguise him as a wizard in front of the famously anti-muggle Grindelwald? We must wait and see.

3. Michael Gambon makes an appearance

Harry Potter fans will know that Dumbledore is a fountain of wisdom, and the trailer begins with a nostalgic flash forward to an older Dumbledore, played by Irish actor Michael Gambon in the final six films of the Harry Potter series.

With a true-to-form pearl of wisdom, Law's Dumbledore says: "If you listen carefully enough, the past whispers to you," as footage of Gambon's take on the beloved wizard is briefly shown.

4. Step into the Room of Requirement

Dumbledore's team (deliberately not referring to them as Dumbledore's army), make an appearance at Hogwarts during the trailer, during which they step into the famed Room of Requirement.

"What is this place?" Kowalski asks, to which Scamander plainly replies: "The room we require."

Dumbledore, in headmaster mode, then replies: "Correct. Three points to Hufflepuff." A reminder that Scamander is, arguably, the most famous of Hufflepuffs, along with Robert Pattinson's Cedric Diggory, perhaps.

5. Aberforth Dumbledore features

Richard Coyle (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) features as Dumbledore's younger brother, Aberforth.

In the Harry Potter books, Aberforth owns The Hog's Head Inn, and is clearly a career publican, as he's seen working at the Hogsmeade pub during the prequel.

"Off to save the world, are we?" he asks his brother in a strained tone.

While Aberforth eventually joins the Order of the Phoenix, the brothers have a tumultuous relationship, with Grindelwald often at the centre of their rows – so this family reunion could be a fraught one.

Aberforth also appeared in the films, played by Jim McManus in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Ciaran Hinds in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

6. Dumbledore still as Grindelwald's pendant

In their teens, Albus Dumbledore and Grindelwald made a blood pact, which is sealed in a vial and stored in a pendant. But after the deadly duel between Grindelwald and the Dumbledore brothers, which resulted in the death of their sister Ariana Dumbledore, the vial was taken by Grindelwald. The blood pact prevents Dumbledore from confronting Grindelwald personally.

Scamander returns the vial to Dumbledore in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, so that he can destroy it. However, he appears to be yet to do so, as he can be seen holding the intact pendant in the trailer.