FANTASTIC BEASTS 3 Adds HARRY POTTER Writer Steve Kloves As Warner Bros. Commits To Five Movie Plan

It's been revealed that the next instalment of the Fantastic Beasts franchise will see J.K. Rowling receive some help from Harry Potter scribe Steve Kloves, while we also have news on the setting...

By JoshWilding - Nov 07, 2019 02:11 AM EST

Filed Under: Harry Potter

Fantastic Beasts 3 is finally moving into the final stages of pre-production. and the prequel franchise has now enlisted Harry Potter writer Steve Kloves to add a little magic to the third chapter following the negative reviews and disappointing box office performance of The Crimes of Grindelwald.

Kloves penned seven of the eight Harry Potter movies and will co-write this move with J.K. Rowling. It's thought that he's been brought back to give Fantastic Beasts 3 a more cinematic feel while also increasing the ties between this series and Harry Potter (Hogwarts is expected to feature more prominently, and it's said that the action will be mostly set in Rio de Janeiro this time).

It's also being reported that Warner Bros. is committed to director David Yates and Rowling's vision of a five-movie series. That was first mentioned back in 2016, but not everyone was convinced it would happen after The Crimes of Grindelwald made $653.8 million compared to Where to Find Them's $814 million.

Needless to say, it's going to be interesting to see where things go from here and whether these changes behind the scenes can help restore the Fantatsic Beasts franchise to its former glory.

What do you guys think?

Hit the "View List" button to check out the best Easter Eggs
from Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald!

The Young Grindelwald

Meeting a young Grindelwald isn't exactly an Easter Egg but seeing who plays him is! Jamie Campbell Bower returns here as the villain and you may recognise him from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 as he could be seen in that movie stealing the Elder Wand (before it ultimately winds up in the hands of Voldemort).

He's now the only cast member to appear in both the original series and prequels but there's another apparent continuity error as this version has two differently coloured eyes just like Johnny Depp.

The Whomping Willow

We get to "meet" a young version of the Whomping Willow in The Crimes of Grindelwald when Newt introduces classmate Leta to his pet Bowtruckle. Surprisingly, it's rather chilled out at this point in time but this cameo leads to yet another major continuity error because Remus Lupin told Harry and his friends that it was planted the year he first arrived in Hogwarts.

Polyjuice Potion And Portkeys

Two fan-favourite elements from Harry Potter return in this movie as we see Newt using some Polyjuice potion to imitate his brother and an illegal Portkey to help him and Jacob travel from Britain to Paris.

While they're not used in particularly new or original ways, it's great to see them return and used as standard by the sequel's adult wizards, especially when Harry was introduced to them along with us.

Phineas Nigellus Black

When Leta Lestrange returns to Hogwarts as an adult, the witch heads straight to her old desk to look at a carving she and Newt obviously put there when they were students.

Look closely, though, and you'll notice that the name "Nigellus" can also be seen!

Phineas Nigellus Black was Sirius Black's great great grandfather and reportedly the least popular Headmaster that Hogwarts ever had. Despite that, he appears frequently in 12 Grimmauld Place to pass messages to Dumbledore (as his portrait hands both there and in Albus' office).

Albus Dumbledore's Secret Brother

Grindelwald clearly wants Credence because of the powerful Obscurus within him and in the closing moments of the sequel, we learn that he's survived an affliction which normally kills people before they can reach adulthood because he's actually the long lost (half?) brother of Albus Dumbledore!

It's a plot twist which makes very little sense and doesn't add up in terms of the timeline but Credence learns that his true name is Aurelius Dumbledore and he now appears to be ready, willing, and able to not only kill Albus but help Grindelwald enact his vision to create a new world where humans are no longer able to lay waste to it (he receives a vision of World War II earlier in the movie).

The Philosopher's Stone

When we pay an ultimately pointless visit to Nicolas Flamel in the movie, we see the ageing and immortal wizard rooting through his cupboards and it's there that the Philosopher's Stone (or the Sorcerer's Stone if you live in the states) can be spotted.

Dumbledore clearly trusted him enough to send Newt to his home/shop, so it's now kind of odd to think how okay he was with the fact that destroying the stone would bring a swift end to his old friend's life during Harry Potter's first adventure.

Owls In The Ministry Of Magic

When Harry and his friends are wowed by the letters which fly through the Ministry of Magic, they learn that it's because owls were once used before being replaced due to the mess they ended up making.

Well, in The Crimes of Grindelwald, we see a poor House Elf having to clean up those droppings which lends some backstory to what led to officials deciding that owls may not be the best of ideas!

Thestrals

The Crimes of Grindelwald is somewhat light on "Fantastic Beasts" but we do get to see more of the Thestrals, creatures you may recall being introduced in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix when Harry learned that he could see them leading the carriages in Hogwarts because he had witnessed death firsthand when Cedric Diggory was killed by Voldemort the year before.

The McLaggen Family

During a Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson in the present day, Dumbledore is confronted by a number of Ministry of Magic officials. One student decides to point out to them just how great a teacher the future headmaster is and when Dumbledore tells him to leave, he refers to his student as "McLaggen." Sounds familiar, right?

Well, in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Cormac McLaggen attempts to woo Hermoine Granger and steal Ron Weasley's place on the Quidditch team, while we also learn that is family is quite a big deal in the Ministry (something which could explain his ancestor's cocky attitude).

Using A Boggart To Teach Students

Before becoming the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore was the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and it appears as if Remus Lupin borrowed one teaching method, in particular, from him.

During a flashback sequence, we get to see Dumbledore using a Boggard to teach his students and learn what Newt and Leta are most frightened of in the process. The question is, is this part of the curriculum or simply a pretty lazy storytelling device?

The Mirror of Erised

Another magical artefact introduced in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, it makes a return in The Crimes of Grindelwald for exposition purposes when Dumbledore stands in front of it and sees a flashback to his youth and apparent romance with the movie's titular villain.

His advice to Harry about how dangerous it is to stand in front of the mirror is clearly based on past experience!

The Kappa

Remus Lupin taught Harry Potter and his friends about the Kappa in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban but we finally get to "meet" one in this movie. It's part of the Circus Arcanus and while it doesn't get much to do, it is exactly as he described it to his students all those years ago.

The Return Of Fawkes

Following that weird twist with Credence, a tiny bird that he's been trying to nurse back to health suddenly transforms into a Phoenix, a creature which only shows up when the Dumbledore family is in need. This is obviously Fawkes, Albus' prized pet that helped Harry defeat the Basilisk and showed up to assist his master when he went to war with Voldemort in the Ministry of Magic.

Nagini

We meet Nagini as a prisoner of the Circus Arcanus and learn that she's from Indonesia and the victim of a blood curse that will one day leave her permanently trapped in the form of a snake.

If the name sounds familiar, it's because Nagini ultimately becomes the beloved ally of Voldemort (so much so he entrusts a piece of his soul within her). What we don't know is what led to her aligning herself with the villain; does what happen to Credence push her over the edge or is it as simple as him manipulating and controlling her? That's something we'll probably learn in a future movie.

Hello, Minerva McGonagall!

A flashback to Newt and Leta's time in Hogwarts brings with it an unexpected cameo as we get to see a much younger version of Professor McGonagall chasing the latter through the school grounds.

She certainly has the same attitude as her future self but there's actually a major continuity error here; as fans have noted, she said in 1995 that she had been teaching in Hogwarts for 39 years which means she would have started in 1956 and not been anywhere near the school way back in 1927!

How many Easter Eggs in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald did you spot? As always, let us know your thoughts on that and our favourites in the comments section below.

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14 Comments

dracula - 11/7/2019, 2:46 AM

Hopefully its good and doesn't prove that JK is the new George Lucas.

bkmeijer2 - 11/7/2019, 4:14 AM

@dracula - atleast Lucas’ stories were actual movie stories unlike Rowling’s book like stories on screen. And yes, I will defend the prequels till the day I die

dracula - 11/7/2019, 4:25 AM

@MalseMarcel - yeah I enjoy the prequels as well, main problem is some of the dialogue and effects. Say what you will about them, but at least they were original, unlike the sequels.

Nightwing1015 - 11/7/2019, 4:26 AM

VicSage - 11/7/2019, 2:52 AM

If they're really committed, might as well take another year or two, and write the script for the fourth and fifth one and shoot these films back to back LOTR style. Release them a year apart.

bkmeijer2 - 11/7/2019, 4:16 AM

I was just wondering, since I didn’t watch the crimes of grindelwald, if these movies still about the fantastic beasts

MrDandy - 11/7/2019, 7:16 AM

I actually enjoyed the first one quite a bit, but the second was a sloppy mess. Hopefully this third one can right the ship and they can still put out a good series overall.

shadowspider9 - 11/7/2019, 8:32 AM

Where can you really go with this concept now though?
The first one was just a one and done movie of Newt trying to fix his own mistakes and recapture the beasts that got lost.
Sure that can have sequels, but they wouldn't really be connected sequels. They would play out more like episodes of a tv show Newt about traveling and catching beasts in different lands.

The second movie, however, tried to be this epic war movie. That's a plot that should revolve around Dumbledore. And the movie proves this by having to jump through hoops to keep Dumbledore out of the fight and justify Newt being involved at all.

TheUnworthyThor - 11/7/2019, 9:20 AM

I just don’t get it. A movie makes 650 million dollars and people are surprised they are moving forward with the series? The same reaction to both this and Ant-man. You know how many big budget movies would kill to have a worldwide box office of 650 million dollars? Most of them.

MovieMonster - 11/7/2019, 9:54 AM

More focus on Dumbledore and Grindelwald please. I don't find Newt to be an interesting character to begin with.

BlackIceJoe - 11/7/2019, 10:04 AM

So can we officially say Ezra Miller won't be returning as Barry Allen? Because if so, maybe this time WB can find an actor that can pull off Barry and Flash. I'm not trying to say Ezra Miller is a bad actor, not at all, but he is a bad Flash and Barry Allen.

4thMaster - 11/7/2019, 2:19 PM

This is good, after the last one just felt like set-up for the other 3 this one needs to stand on it's own more. I hope the franchise finds it's footing and ends up being great.

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FANTASTIC BEASTS 3 Adds HARRY POTTER Writer Steve Kloves As Warner Bros. Commits To Five Movie Plan

It's been revealed that the next instalment of the Fantastic Beasts franchise will see J.K. Rowling receive some help from Harry Potter scribe Steve Kloves, while we also have news on the setting...

The Young Grindelwald

The Whomping Willow

Polyjuice Potion And Portkeys

Phineas Nigellus Black

Albus Dumbledore's Secret Brother

The Philosopher's Stone

Owls In The Ministry Of Magic

Thestrals

The McLaggen Family

Using A Boggart To Teach Students

The Mirror of Erised

The Kappa

The Return Of Fawkes

Nagini

Hello, Minerva McGonagall!

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