What The Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald Extended Cut Adds

Here are all the major additions in the extended cut of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald. Released in late 2018, The Crimes Of Grindelwald is the sequel to 2016’s Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them and the tenth movie in the Wizarding World franchise kickstarted by J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter films. Picking up where its predecessor left off, the sequel moves the action from New York to London and Paris and follows Newt Scamander as he tries to save Credence Barebone from the clutches of Gellert Grindelwald.

Whereas Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them earned rave reviews from fans and critics alike, The Crimes Of Grindelwald wasn’t so lucky. Many took issue with the sequel’s overcrowded plot, which meant several characters didn’t get the development or screen time they deserved and resulted in a narrative that raised more questions than it answered. However, with the movie’s Blu-ray release came the Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald extended cut which featured an additional seven minutes worth of extra scenes.

One of the most noteworthy additions to the extended cut of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald is an extension of the scene where Newt meets with Albus Dumbledore towards the start of the movie. In the extended cut, Dumbledore reveals he sent the magizoologist to New York because he knew Grindelwald would try to catch Credence and was hoping Newt would save him. Interestingly, Dumbledore also informs Newt that Grindelwald had a vision many years ago in which an Obscurial killed the man he feared the most. This reveal suggests Dumbledore and Grindelwald may have encountered an Obscurial in the past, which lends weight to the theory that Ariana Dumbledore may have been one herself.

Other scenes in the extended cut don’t add much to the overall plot and seem thrown in for fan service. One features Newt and his No-Maj pal Jacob as the former herds a bunch of baby Nifflers into his suitcase, while another focuses on a brief exchange between Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall. While the Niffler scene is cute it’s not important to the story, but the Dumbledore scene interestingly confirms that the McGonagall in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald is indeed Minerva McGonagall, which throws up certain plot holes in the Wizarding World timeline.

The remaining extra scenes in the extended cut offer a tad more development for certain characters. A scene featured in early trailers for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald showing Leta Lestrange and her fiancé Theseus Scamander at a ball is reinstated and gives Leta much-needed screen time. There are also a couple of scenes featuring Credence and Nagini that expand on their romantic relationship. The first sees the pair take to a rooftop where Credence releases his Obscurus above the skyline of Paris, while in the second Nagini feeds Credence stolen bread in an alleyway.

While Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald’s extended cut does offer some extra characterization and the odd interesting plot point, it doesn’t add a huge amount to the narrative overall. More importantly, the extended cut doesn’t fix problems such as the movie’s crowded plotlines but hopefully, that’ll be addressed in the next Fantastic Beasts film.