Young Dumbledore is coming to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – and he looks like Jude Law!
That’s right, Law has been tapped to play the young version of Albus Dumbledore in the series – a job that’s expected to involve at least four films. Richard Harris played the character in Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets, and Michael Gambon from Prisoner of Azkaban onward.
Law will star opposite Johnny Depp, who plays Gellert Grindelwald, and who already appeared in the first Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie.
The news was first reported by Variety and quickly confirmed by Pottermore.
Said David Yates, director of the film “Jude Law is a phenomenally talented actor whose work I’ve long admired and I’m looking forward to finally having the opportunity to work with him. I know he will brilliantly capture all the unexpected facets of Albus Dumbledore as J.K. Rowling reveals this very different time in his life.”
In the announcement, Pottermore adds this about Dumbledore:
[Fantastic Beasts 2] will show Dumbledore decades before he became Headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
At this point in the story he is the wizarding school’s Transfiguration professor and a contemporary of Gellert Grindelwald – the Dark wizard we met in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, played by Johnny Depp.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2 is set to open November 2018.
