Jude Law recently spoke at Comic Con Liverpool about playing Albus Dumbledore in the Fantastic Beasts film series (2016–2022) and how he wished he’d had the chance to complete the Hogwarts headmaster’s story arc through five films, as originally planned. A lukewarm critical response and commercial performance saw the ‘Beasts’ films shelved by Warner Bros. after the third instalment.
On Dumbledore’s transition from distinguished suit-wearer to the long-robed look we saw in the film series, Law said, ‘I always hoped that on that journey you would see him lose his three-piece suits and put on a robe. I always thought it’d be quite funny to have a sequence when he goes on sabbatical to India or China and Japan … and he suddenly stops wearing suits and just comes in in like all these robes starts growing his beard out … he’d been on a gap year.’
Law’s performance as a young version of the transfiguration-teacher-turned-Hogwarts-headmaster was a highlight of the ‘Beasts’ films, and was applauded by both fans and critics. Law originated the role in the second film, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) and reprised it four years later in Secrets of Dumbledore (2022). While the films centred around ‘magizoologist’ Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), the focus of the series (by the last film at least) was the subplot surrounding Dumbledore’s complex relationship with dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp/Mads Mikkelsen).
Law spoke fondly about the production team behind the Fantastic Beasts films, saying, ‘Honestly, the team that they put together was really positive … we all came to it with a lot of love, a lot of positivity. So my experience was a really good one.’ He also touched on the decision to end the series after the third film, adding, ‘Sometimes the decisions and the life of a film or of a franchise are made up after you finish … that kind of felt what happened with Fantastic Beasts.’
Johnny Depp was famously replaced by Mads Mikkelsen after the studio fired the Grindelwald actor during his highly publicised court case with Amber Heard. In addition, Harry Potter film series screenwriter Steve Kloves was brought in to join J.K. Rowling and help finish the final script (COVID complications didn’t help). After its lukewarm reception in 2022, Warner Bros. decided to shelve the film series and move forward with a television adaptation of the original book series.
Sadly, we never saw Dumbledore’s epic final battle with Grindelwald on screen, as the five-film arc originally promised. Says Law, ‘I did hope to fulfil that circle … to get to the point where you see Dumbledore finally face Grindelwald, but it never happened … That’s a decision that was above my head.’
