Dumbledore Confesses Love for Grindelwald In Fantastic Beasts 3 Trailer

A new trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore finally starts to explore the romance between Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald as the former confesses his love. Directed by David Yates, the third installment in the Harry Potter prequel series will debut in theaters next month. It continues the story of magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), though the action has shifted considerably from where it first began in 2016’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, where Newt chased missing creatures around New York City.

Instead, The Secrets of Dumbledore will further the brewing conflict between the side of good and the dark forces gathering around Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen). All signs have pointed to a bigger focus on the younger Dumbledore (Jude Law), who is expected to finally clash with Grindelwald in this installment. The Fantastic Beasts franchise has fielded some criticism over its reluctance to explicitly portray the romance between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, which was heavily hinted at but never shown in the original Harry Potter books. With Fantastic Beasts 3, though, that looks to finally change.

A recent TV spot for Fantastic Beasts 3 shared online by Culture Crave finds the two powerful wizards having their first real moment together in the franchise. Dumbledore and Grindelwald sit opposite each other in a restaurant, and Grindelwald questions Dumbledore on whether he truly believes he can turn his back on “your own kind.” Grindelwald then reminds Dumbledore that they once shared an ideology, which prompts Dumbledore to admit, “Because I was in love with you.” Check it out below.

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The previous installment in the franchise, 2018’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, only had Dumbledore allude to his past with the dark wizard by describing them as “closer than brothers.” As things stand right now, Dumbledore is unable to make a direct move against Grindelwald because of a blood pact they made as teens. However, Fantastic Beasts 3 might find him destroying it so that he can properly join the conflict. Still, as shown in the new trailer, Fantastic Beasts 3 is also finally showing the true depths of the bond between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, which could make their upcoming battle even richer.

Of course, it still remains to be seen just how much the movie will explore their romance. A single mention of the love they shared might not be enough to appease fans who have been waiting for more concrete representation of Dumbledore’s queerness ever since author J.K. Rowling announced he was gay in 2007. Ideally, Fantastic Beasts 3 will give proper depth and respect to the relationship that is now arguably at its center; if Yates manages to do that, it would be a significant moment for onscreen LGBTQ+ representation, which would be no small thing these days, especially in the face of Rowling’s controversial anti-trans statements. Fans will have to wait and see what Fantastic Beasts 3 chooses to do.

Source: Culture Crave/Twitter

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Rachel Labonte
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Rachel LaBonte is a news, feature, and movie review writer for Screen Rant with a deep passion for film and television. A graduate of Emerson College, she majored in Media Arts Production while specializing in screenwriting. She’s been a writer ever since high school when she realized she was rather good at it and joined as many entertainment news clubs as she could while in school. Most notably, she wrote for Emerson’s website Emertainment Monthly, and one of her film reviews won an Evvy (Emerson’s student awards) for Best Review. Her deep love of movies led to her working at a movie theater for five years, which she loved despite the angry customers. An avid reader who constantly buys books before reading the ones she already owns, Rachel is a huge fan of superheroes (especially of the Marvel variety) and wizards and will likely never be able to catch up on all the movies/TV shows she longs to watch.

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