Further Plot Details, Casting Notices Apparate as ‘Fantastic Beasts 2’ Starts Shooting
Last year’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them left some questions unanswered — namely, where to find the fantastic beasts. The film never made good on the explicit promise of its title, its best guess at where the fantastic beasts might be located landing somewhere around “all over the place.” As such, a sequel was all but necessary, in the hopes that it can finally clarify the movements and settling patterns of fantastic beasts. (That, and the first movie made over $800 million.) And as principal photography got rolling in England this morning, new plot details and casting notices have been made public, though none brings us any closer to a workable knowledge of fantastic beasts, and/or where to find them.
Deadline reported from the Leavesden Studios outside London in the wee small hours of America’s morning, clarifying the narrative thread of Fantastic Beasts 2 and unveiling a few new faces set to appear in the film. Audiences may remember the first film concluding with the twist that the bad guy was secretly Mortdecai all along the Johnny Depp-played evil wizard Grindelwald had been behind the sinister plot of the film, and sure enough, he’ll assume the mantle of primary villain for the impending sequel. He’ll cross wands with a young Dumbledore (portrayed by Jude Law, the Young Pope himself), a boyhood friend turned bitter enemy. And for Dumbledore to triumph over the powerful Grindelwald, he’ll need help from former pupil Newt (Eddie Redmayne).
Deadline outlined the newest additions to the cast as well, and because I have only a slight inkling as to what any of it means, I’ve played it safe by reproducing the relevant paragraph from their article:
...Claudia Kim (The Dark Tower, Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Marco Polo) as a young woman first encountered as a featured attraction at a wizarding circus. William Nadylam will play a wizard named Yusuf Kama; Ingvar Sigurdsson (Baltasar Kormakur’s The Oath) joins as bounty hunter Grimmson; Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (The Missing) is Skender, who runs the wizarding circus; and Kevin Guthrie is Abernathy, the boss of MACUSA (Magical Congress of the USA).
That’s all well and good, but I’m getting concerned that this film has lost sight of its purpose. By which I mean: WHERE CAN I FIND THE FANTASTIC BEASTS. THIS IS ALL THE NEW MOVIE NEEDS TO TELL US.