New Fantastic Beasts 2 cast members revealed including pivotal character
As production continues on the upcoming Fantastic Beasts sequel, Warner Bros. has announced new additions to the cast (via Pottermore) including one character that fans have yet to see in any of the films but whose name they certainly recognize.
Brontis Jodorowsky (El Topo, Endless Poetry) has been cast in the role of Nicolas Flamel, the character first mentioned in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone who was the alchemist who discovered the Elixir of Life and created the titular stone.
Additional new cast members include Wolf Roth as a character called Spielman; Call the Midwife star Victoria Yeates as Bunty; Derek Riddell as Torquil Travers; Poppy Corby-Tuech as Rosier; and Cornell S John as Arnold Guzman. In addition, actor and comedian Jessica Williams (The Daily Show) and Fiona Glascott have joined the cast in undisclosed roles.
Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) stars once more as wizarding world magizoologist Newt Scamander; alongside Katherine Waterston as Auror Tina Goldstein; Alison Sudol as her sister, Queenie Goldstein; and Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski, the only No-Maj in the foursome.
Oscar nominee Johnny Depp (the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Finding Neverland), who was revealed as Gellert Grindelwald, stars as the powerful Dark wizard in the film. Oscar nominee Jude Law (The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain) takes on the role of Albus Dumbledore—one of J.K. Rowling’s most beloved characters—decades before he becomes Headmaster at Hogwarts. Credence, whose fate was unknown at the end of the first film, makes a mysterious return, played again by Ezra Miller. Zoë Kravitz plays Leta Lestrange, who was glimpsed in a photo as a woman from Newt’s past; Callum Turner is the famed Theseus Scamander, a war hero and Auror, who also happens to be Newt’s older brother; and Claudia Kim plays a young woman we first meet as a featured attraction at a wizarding circus.
J.K. Rowling wrote the screenplay for the film, which opens in 1927, a few months after Newt helped to unveil and capture the infamous Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. However, as he promised he would, Grindelwald has made a dramatic escape and has been gathering more followers to his cause—elevating wizards above all non-magical beings. The only one who might be able to stop him is the wizard he once called his dearest friend, Albus Dumbledore. But Dumbledore will need help from the wizard who had thwarted Grindelwald once before, his former student Newt Scamander. The adventure reunites Newt with Tina, Queenie and Jacob, but his mission will also test their loyalties as they face new perils in an increasingly dangerous and divided wizarding world.
David Heyman, J.K. Rowling, Steve Kloves and Lionel Wigram are producing the film, with Tim Lewis, Neil Blair, Rick Senat and Danny Cohen serving as executive producers.
Directed once again by David Yates, Fantastic Beasts 2 will arrive November 16, 2018.
(Photo credit: Getty Images)
