Fantastic Beasts 3 is officially titled The Secrets of Dumbledore, and it's coming to theaters much sooner than expected.
Warner Bros. confirmed the film's title and announced that its release date had been moved up by three months, with the third entry in the fantastical franchise now scheduled to open in theaters on April 15, 2022, as opposed to July 15. The studio plans to have its biggest movies be theatrical exclusives again in 2022, after debuting its 2021 slate in theaters and HBO Max.
#FantasticBeasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore in theaters April 15, 2022. pic.twitter.com/l27HbuwW9f
— Fantastic Beasts (@FantasticBeasts) September 22, 2021
The official logline for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is as follows: "Professor Albus Dumbledore knows the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald is moving to seize control of the wizarding world. Unable to stop him alone, he entrusts Magizoologist Newt Scamander to lead an intrepid team of wizards, witches and one brave Muggle baker on a dangerous mission, where they encounter old and new beasts and clash with Grindelwald’s growing legion of followers. But with the stakes so high, how long can Dumbledore remain on the sidelines?"
The third film brings back the majority of the cast from the last two entries, including Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore, Ezra Miller as Credence (aka Aurelius Dumbledore), Callum Turner as Theseus Scamander, Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski, Alison Sudol as Queenie Goldstein, and Katherine Waterston as Tina Goldstein.
This time, however, Mads Mikkelsen will be taking over the role of Gellert Grindelwald, replacing Johnny Depp, who resigned from the role last year. He is, technically speaking, the third actor to play Grindelwald. Colin Farrell first took on the role, albeit as 'Percival Graves,' an alter-ego achieved through transfiguration magic, before Depp portrayed the 'real' version.
It was previously announced that Fantastic Beasts is also now going to be a 5-part series of films after it was extended from its original three-film run, with director David Yates confirming that each film will also take place in a different city: the first installment took place in New York City, while The Crimes of Grindelwald largely centered around Paris.
Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.