Entertainment

The New ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Answers Some Questions But Leaves You With A Lot More

The new Fantastic Beasts movie, The Crimes of Grindelwald, hits theaters on Nov. 16, and it's another exciting event for Harry Potter fans. The Fantastic Beasts sequel is potentially even more exciting for fans of J.K. Rowling's children's fantasy series than the first one, which came out in 2016, because this prequel to Harry Potter includes a young Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law). Seeing as the entire Fantastic Beasts series will include five movies, it's a little disappointing to find out that the Crimes of Grindelwald post-credits scene doesn't exist. But the new installment will still have you looking forward to the third movie.

Most of the time, post-credits scenes offer either some sort of bonus extension of the movie's story or, as with most Marvel movies, they provide a preview for the next movie in a series. But, without giving away any spoilers, the end of The Crimes of Grindelwald provides audiences with enough information to predict what Fantastic Beasts 3 will be about. It definitely doesn't answer all of the series' mysteries or settle all its conflicts, so even if you walk out of the theater feeling like you have more questions than answers, you at least can rest assured that the next movie will likely clear up some of those lingering uncertainties. You have to hope it will, at least.

The new movie picks up a year after Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, in 1927, with Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) being held in prison in the U.S. and Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) having returned to London. The opening scenes of The Crimes of Grindelwald will make you feel like you haven't missed much. Spoilers ahead: But that all changes after you learn that Newt hasn't had recent contact with Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) and that Leta Lestrange (Zoë Kravitz) is engaged to Newt's brother, Theseus (Callum Turner).

The main action of the film starts with Grindelwald's escape from imprisonment. Eventually, Grindelwald, Credence (Ezra Miller), Newt, and even more characters end up in Paris. And it seems that just about everyone is looking for Credence. Fortunately, Dumbledore provides some help to Newt, even if the former can't join them in Paris. The young Hogwarts professor gives Newt the business card of a friend to contact because, saying "Should things go terribly wrong, it's good to have a place to go." That sounds pretty foreboding, but the events that unfold in Paris totally warrant Dumbledore's warning.

As per usual in a Wizarding World movie, things do go awry, and that might leave some people who see the movie scratching their heads in the end. At least you can feel some sense of assurance knowing that J.K. Rowling knows what she's doing from here. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Rowling said, "As with the Harry Potter books, it is all mapped out." Without a post-credits scene to preview what the next movie might be like, you'll just have to use your imagination to guess what Rowling has planned for us next.