“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”, has been long anticipated ever since the release of the first movie, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The official release date is Nov 16. The screenplay was written by J.K. Rowling as a prequel to her most famous fantasy book series, Harry Potter. Both the Fantastic Beast movies were directed by David Yates, who also directed the final four parts of the Harry Potter series.

“The script is a very interesting synthesis between a sort of political thriller and love story,” Yates said in a press conference for the Hollywood reporter, “So [J.K. Rowling has] come out with this very original kind of melody, which is this: fundamentally, it’s a kind of love story, but it has a really interesting thriller-sequel sort of vibe to it as well.”

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them stars Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, Katherine Waterston as Porpentina Goldstein (Tina), Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski, Alison Sudol as Queenie, and Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald.

The story takes place during 1926 when Newt Scamander travels to New York from London with a briefcase filled with magical creatures. The story revolves around how he accidentally swaps the briefcase with Jacob Kowalski and the creatures escape. As Newt tries to find them, problems arise and obstacles block his path. Eventually, he finds all the creatures, most problems are solved, and he discovers that Percival Graves, auror of the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA), is antagonist Gellert Grindelwald.

“As promised, the title critters in “Fantastic Beasts” are whimsically entertaining and occasionally as entrancing as those animals both real and imagined crawling through a medieval illuminated manuscript, with their gaudy hues and hints of gold,” film critic, Manohla Dargis said in her review for the New York Times.

Although “The Crimes of Grindelwald” has not hit theatres yet, many sources such as the pottermore website and short clips from the movie, have provided information on what to expect from the movie.

Johnny Depp as Grindelwald, will be a huge focus in it. MACUSA could not hold him back long enough. Grindelwald’s intention is to expose the wizarding community to the non-magical world.

Grindelwald could be compared to Lord Voldemort from Rowling’s Harry Potter series, both these villains represented a dark time for the wizarding world.

Apart from the storyline, there are a few elements that surprised the fans: Credence is alive, a new magical curse was discovered, Newt’s brother, Leta Lestrange, will be introduced, and finally, Jude Law will make his debut as young Albus Dumbledore in the film.

“It’s awesome, it’s different from other movies,” sophomore Ayal Assana said, “The main character makes it even better.”

Many fans are really excited for the release of this movie and the main character, Newt Scamander, is one of them.

Young Albus Dumbledore and the return of Hogwarts in the movie has sparked enthusiasm among many potterheads.

“Young Dumbledore will be there and we get to see Hogwarts again,” Assana said. “How can you not be excited?”

Besides the new characters and cast, the magical atmosphere of the movie has fans thrilled.

“The whole magical and fantasy theme of the movie is so good,” senior Hyein Jeong said. “I can’t wait for when it comes out.”

To learn more about Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, visit https://www.pottermore.com/news/everything-we-know-about-fantastic-beasts-the-crimes-of-grindelwald-so-far.