Harry Potter: 15 Casting Decisions That Saved The Fantastic Beasts Movies (And 5 That Hurt It)

Harry Potter is probably the best cast franchise in film history. Over ten films, Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts have cobbled together knights, dames, Oscar winners, and actors widely regarded as the best in the industry. While reviews of The Crimes of Grindelwald have been mixed, many of the cast members are earning high praise and raves whether or not the film is. However, this isn’t true for every actor in the film, which brings us to this list. With Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald out in cinemas, it’s time to assess which cast members have lifted the franchise up and which ones have brought them down.

But first, a note on the criteria. Actors were included when their casting had a noticeable effect on the film or the series. This can include the leads of the franchise, supporting players, or even cameos. It’s also a measure of how well the actor fits the role and what they did with it. Finally, it should be said that Fantastic Beasts courts politics and social issues more than your average franchise, but this list is concerned with casting and acting. Those issues do come up on this list, but they are not the reason for an actor’s placement in a given category.

Without further ado, this is 15 Casting Decisions That Saved The Fantastic Beasts Movies (And 5 That Hurt It).

20 Saved: Eddie Redmayne

As the franchise lead, Redmayne does much of the heavy lifting for the films, and this hasn’t sat well with everyone. Redmayne is an expressive, but divisive actor who isn’t afraid to go over-the-top, something he’s admitted while doing press for Fantastic Beasts.

His take on Newt Scamander has been criticized as twitchy, evasive, and too hangdog, but critiques for the second installment suggest that he is making the character his own. More than this, Redmayne is playing Scamander as a different kind of action hero. He is vulnerable and shy, but his neuroses aren’t played for laughs. His social awkwardness is one of the most realistic things about the series. Some find this cloying, but Fantastic Beasts might go down in history as the first tentpole franchise to feature a fully-realized introvert as its lead.

19 Saved: Katherine Waterston

Katherine Waterston has quietly become one of Hollywood’s most reliable actresses, balancing big budget blockbusters with indie fare like Mid90s and Queen of Earth. Since breaking out on Boardwalk Empire, she’s worked with some of the most respected filmmakers in the industry.

As Auror Tina Goldstein, she also serves as a balance to Newt Scamander’s twitchier impulses. Where he is ambivalent and shy, she is determined and ambitious. Waterston also manages to imbue what could have been a bland role (the uptight love interest to a charmingly infantilized, but imminently lovable opposite) with character and purpose, even when the script doesn’t leave her with much to work with. With potentially three for more films for her character, Waterston should have an intriguing arc. Hopefully, it’ll be one that gives her character challenges worthy of the actor’s talent.

18 Saved: Ezra Miller

Few actors working today can play an unhinged character as well as Ezra Miller. Casting him as Credence, the character that much of the first two Fantastic Beasts revolves around, must’ve been a no-brainer. Anyone who’s seen Miller as a young psychopath in We Need to Talk About Kevin or as the smartest person in the cell in The Stanford Prison Experiment could testify to his ability to play troubled.

As Credence, Miller’s haircut does a lot of the heavy lifting, but the actor delivers a level of volatility that resonates on the screen. His appearance in Grindelwald was a bit of a surprise, considering how the first Fantastic Beasts ended, but Miller’s reappearance was more than welcome, especially on the publicity circuit where the actor has delighted the press with candid interviews and outré outfits.

17 Hurt: Jon Voight

Jon Voight is a veteran actor with a legendary resume and screen cred to boot. His casting as Henry Shaw, Sr. in the first Fantastic Beasts was widely noticed in the press.

In the actual film, his presence is ostentatious even as the performance is paradoxically forgettable. As the head of the Shaw clan, political heavyweights of 1920s New York, Voight’s performance is cardboard thin. The Shaws are the film’s weakest link and, while the casting department probably hoped Voight could elevate an underdeveloped part of the plot, his performance is largely rote and lethargic.

16 Saved: Colin Farrell

Few actors have been as liberated by their career lows as Colin Farrell has. Initially pegged as a future big star, Farrell waffled through uninspired big budget fare before taking on truly interesting work, popping in bizarre films (The Lobster) or looking bizarre in commercial work (Horrible Bosses).

His turn as Graves in Fantastic Beasts didn’t have to be memorable, as it was more or less the same role he played in Minority Report. Still, Farrell imbibed the role with a two-faced sense of diligence and mischief that hinted at the true identity of his character. Strangely enough, Fantastic Beasts was the second time that Farrell turned into a character played by Johnny Depp. In The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, three actors took over for a recently departed Heath Ledger: Farrell, Depp, and Dumbledore himself, Jude Law.

15 Saved: Samantha Morton

There are few actors as versatile as Samantha Morton. In her breakout year, 2002, she played a stoic psychic in Minority Report, a hard-partying woman in Morvern Callar, and a loving foreign mother in In America. The Fantastic Beasts roster includes Oscar winners, Hollywood royalty, and veterans of the stage and screen, but Morton’s track record has seen her bounce between playing the sympathetic, complicated, and wicked, sometimes all in the same year.

As Mary Lou Barebone, she was the latter: a tense character who reveled in the bleakness of her circumstances. That she resonated as a vulnerable soul, rather than a caricature, is a testament to Morton’s abilities. In lesser hands, Barebone would’ve been just another sinister stepmother, but in Morton’s hands, she was an unfortunately familiar depiction of xenophobia transformed into offensive rage.

14 Saved: Ron Perlman

You’d be forgiven for missing Ron Perlman in the first Fantastic Beasts. Voicing Gnarlak, the hoodlum goblin and proprietor of The Blind Pig speakeasy, Perlman bore a passing resemblance to what ended up on screen. However, for fans of Hellboy or Sons of Anarchy, or for anyone familiar with that stony voice, Perlman’s appearance was a welcome easter egg.

As Gnarlak, Perlman’s appearance was a fun cameo that never tipped over into the realm of distraction. Perlman’s gruff tone and cadence communicated much of what the audience needed to know about Gnarlak and The Blind Pig without a whole lot of exposition. In a franchise that is often faulted for putting world-building over plot and character development, that is saying something.

13 Hurt: Claudia Kim

Landing a part in Fantastic Beasts should be a positive experience for an up-and-coming actor, but the response to Kim’s casting as Nagini elicited the opposite.

Having Nagini be a character struck some as a tie-in to the more successful wing of the franchise, the kind of gesture that makes Fantastic Beasts seem more like commerce than the art fans want it to be. Also, casting the actress as a character becoming a tropical snake stoked claims of exoticism. Variety dubbed her character a “think-piece-waiting-to-happen.” These issues should’ve dissipated when audiences saw the performance, but they didn’t. Kim’s work is good, but she doesn’t get enough to do, nor does the character develop enough to make the casting seem like anything more than a tone-deaf exercise in lame world-building and Orientalism.

12 Saved: William Nadylam

The Crimes of Grindelwald is shaping up to be the worst reviewed film in the Potterverse thus far. Many of these complaints center around an overstuffed plot that doesn’t provide its characters with enough to do or enough time to develop. However, these qualities can make a mysterious character stand out, and William Nadylam’s Yusuf Kama benefits the most out of the new supporting characters. Playing a character who keeps his cards close to his chest, Nadylam manages to transform limited screen time into an intriguing arc. Thankfully, Nadylam doesn’t just give a memorable performance, he gives a sense of depth to the character’s magic community.

11 Saved: Gemma Chan

This was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it role, so how could Gemma Chan’s casting have saved the Fantastic Beasts franchise? Chan plays, or rather cameos, as Ya Zhou, a delegate of the International Confederation of Wizards.

Chan’s casting was exciting partly for its nod towards social inclusivity. Given previous criticisms of the franchise over its lack of diversity, her appearance seemed like an acknowledgment of those concerns, even if her inclusion did run the risk of tokenism. Her casting was also exciting because it suggested that the magic world was so much bigger than what audiences knew, and with so many more films planned, we would find out how big. There are many reasons (both narrative and financial) for the franchise to move outside the U.S. and Europe, and Ya Zhou’s appearance was a reminder that there is a whole magical world to explore.

10 Saved: Callum Turner

Callum Turner plays Newt’s brother Theseus, and at first glance, he’s a character created for audiences to dislike. He’s the straight-laced war hero in contrast to Newt’s more eccentric career choice and he’s engaged to Newt’s first love. When Newt is practically ordered to work under Theseus at the beginning of Crimes of Grindelwald, it’s a belittling moment for our hero.

Yet, in Turner’s hands, Theseus isn’t the reprehensible posh cad audiences might expect. His relationship with Newt feels familiar, lived-in, and is a relationship of fond, but strained, affection. Much of this is due to Turner’s low-key work opposite Redmayne. The onscreen brotherly bond is further cemented by the strong resemblance between Turner and Redmayne.

9 Hurt: Josh Cowdery

Josh Cowdery is slowly making a name for himself playing bit parts in some of the biggest franchises out today, but his work in Fantastic Beasts falls into a category some might say is worse than satisfactory… it’s forgettable.

Cowdery plays Senator Henry Shaw, Jr., and his presence in the film is essentially as a MacGuffin (existing to be attacked and create tension for the magic community). Cowdery looks and plays the part of a charismatic politician, but the performance is largely bland and uninteresting. As written, the role is that of the handsome, but rather dishonest politico, which is the kind of part that in the future, will be written and performed by AI. For now, a role like this needs a hammy, scenery-chewing actor, and, in this case, that wasn’t Cowdery.

8 Saved: Carmen Ejogo

Seraphina Picquery isn’t the most interesting role on paper. As leader of the Magical Congress of the United States of America, she’s often been forced to play bad cop to Newt Scamander and Tina Goldstein.

On screen, however, Carmen Ejogo makes Picquery less of an archetype, and more of a living, breathing character often forced to make difficult decisions. Even in scenes where her character seems to exist only to jam up other characters, Ejogo portrays Picquery as a leader whose every decision is based on what’s best for her community. It’s almost possible to see the gears turning in her head. As the Fantastic Beasts saga plays out over subsequent installments, it’s possible that Picquery will take on a larger role with more depth.

7 Saved: Brontis Jodorowsky

The appearance of Flamel as a character in a Potterverse film is exciting indeed, and the casting of Brontis Jodorowsky similarly so. Flamel was only mentioned in the Harry Potter series, but was important as he created the titular stone of the first novel and film. The real Flamel was, according to Den of Geek, a 15th century foreign scribe.

Jodorowsky’s casting was an inspired choice. He is a theater director (and occasional actor) who is also the son of a surrealist film director perhaps most famous for his now legendary aborted adaptation of Dune. In a franchise that doesn’t shy away from stunt casting (Jude Law as Dumbledore), Brontis brings a proper weirdness to Flamel while winking at the film nerds in the audience.

6 Saved: Zoë Kravitz

As Potterheads know, the appearance of the Lestrange name is cause for excitement, or at least a sigh of acknowledgement. As Leta Lestrange, Zoë Kravitz has a difficult task: keeping audiences from disliking, or being wary of a Lestrange.

The odds weren’t great. Helena Bonham Carter’s Bellatrix is one of the Potterverse’s most memorable characters. Leta, meanwhile, is known for breaking the protagonist’s heart and had limited screen time to win over the audience. Despite all of this, Kravitz has succeeded. In many ways, she is the emotional core of Grindelwald. She comes to terms with her past and makes great sacrifices while upping the stakes of future installments. The fact that Kravitz sells these emotional points with so much going on is both a testament to her performance and a triumph of casting.

5 Hurt: Kevin Guthrie

Someday, Kevin Guthrie might be a star, and considering the curriculum he’s accrued in bit parts of daring films, as well as his work on The Terror and other TV shows, it’ll be well-deserved.

But his turn as Abernathy, Grindelwald’s inside man, leaves something to be desired. For a character that literally serves as the catalyst for the plot, Abernathy is a blank slate, coming across as a little more than a plot device. Even Miss Moneypenny shined in almost every James Bond movie, despite having nothing to do but be rebuffed. It’s hard to know whose fault it is, though, as the script doesn’t leave a lot of room for development, but Abernathy’s disloyalty doesn’t communicate an expansive network of Grindelwald sympathizers. As a franchise, Fantastic Beasts leans into the adage that there are no small parts, but Abernathy certainly needed more of something.

4 Saved: Dan Fogler

Right now, Dan Fogler might be the luckiest man in Hollywood. He’s landed plum roles in one of Hollywood’s biggest franchises, Fantastic Beasts, and on one of its biggest TV shows, The Walking Dead. Still, this luck is the culmination of an almost 20-year career, during which, Fogler has established himself as a charmer and a fan favorite, even when projects like Balls of Fury and Good Luck Chuck are deemed as dreck.

As Jacob Kowalski, Fogler also has the distinction of being the first No-Maj/Muggle lead of a Potterverse film, and he has already established himself as a fan favorite of the Fantastic Beasts franchise. All of this is even more impressive when you consider that he is a universe away from the widely acknowledged fan favorite of the Potter films, Severus Snape.

3 Saved: Alison Sudol

As Queenie, Tina’s more relaxed sister, Alison Sudol almost ran away with Fantastic Beasts. Unlike much of the rest of the cast, she was relatively unknown when she landed the part. Because of this, it seemed as if she walked right out of the 1920s and onto a movie set. A picture of her character could very well appear in an encyclopedia next to the entry for “flapper.”

Credit goes to Sudol, who gives Queenie a sense of patience and compassion. In the first Fantastic Beasts, these qualities were a welcome alternative to Newt’s nervousness and Tina’s rigidity. Even if Grindelwald doesn’t give her too much screen time, her character still adds a spark to the proceedings when she’s on screen, and her decision at the end disrupts relationships that form the cornerstone of Fantastic Beasts.

2 Hurt: Johnny Depp

Since the first Fantastic Beasts reveal, Johnny Depp’s casting has been contentious. His inclusion under the “hurt” category isn’t based on those controversies, though. It’s more that Depp’s Grindelwald isn’t great for the franchise or the actor.

Critics are divided about Depp’s performance. Some say he sparkles, others describe his performance as tired and cliché. One wonders what Depp gets (aside from the paycheck) out of playing another eccentric character with odd hair and a strange voice. For an actor once known for bold choices, his Grindelwald is too familiar. Furthermore, the franchise also suffers. Fantastic Beasts needs a truly original villain to feel necessary, and although Grindelwald is relevant, he becomes a pale substitute for peril and presence. Fantastic Beasts needs a Heath Ledger-as-Joker game-changer villain, not a retread of past tropes mining current events for relevance.

1 Saved: Jude Law

Getting the lead role in a huge franchise playing a beloved character is a lucky stroke for any actor, but it’s hard to envy Jude Law having to fill the shoes of not just one, but two great actors.

As Albus Dumbledore, Law stepped into a role that was played to great acclaim by Richard Harris until his passing, and then by Michael Gambon. It’s good news for the franchise that Law nailed it. Even the most withering reviews of Grindelwald have nice things to say about Law’s performance. He resembles the Dumbledore that audiences know while making the character seem new and fresh. He’s not yet the wizened sage that will guide Harry Potter, but his ability to see the potential in everyone, especially Newt, bridges the franchises without feeling trite.

—

Do you agree? Or do you think one of our choices actually did the opposite? Let us know in the comments!