Warner Bros. has released a new featurette for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore that introduces us to Dumbledore’s first army. The first trailer released in December revealed that this army would consist of a group of misfits, namely “a magizoologist, his indispensable assistant, a wizard descended from a very old family, a school teacher, and a muggle.” The trailer expands on this, with producer David Heyman referring to each member as “an outsider who doesn’t really belong but does belong in this group.” He goes onto compare this group to Dumbledore’s Army in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth film of the Harry Potter series.
The featurette also gives us a glimpse into Albus Dumbledore’s (Jude Law) plot against his nemesis and former friend Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen). Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) says early in the featurette that Grindelwald can see into the future, and Newt suggests that the best strategy for Dumbledore’s First Army would be to confuse him. Dumbledore’s method for doing so seems to be to send them all off on individual missions. Actress Jessica Williams, who plays Lally Hicks, says that Dumbledore’s First Army members are all going to be working to have faith in Dumbledore’s plan, though they don’t seem entirely sure what it is.
Curiously absent from this featurette, as she has been throughout the whole Fantastic Beasts 3 marketing campaign, is Katherine Waterston’s, Tina Goldstein. The character has not appeared in either trailer, nor did she get a character poster. This is all happening in spite of the fact that she is set to appear in the film. A piece from Digital Spy features some speculations on this matter. A possibility is Tina is reluctant to fight Grindelwald’s army since her sister Queenie (Alison Sudol) is a part of it. However, the article suggests that it is more likely that Waterston’s schedule kept her from being a substantial part of the film.
While some Wizarding World fans are excited for Fantastic Beasts 3, the film does have some hurdles to overcome. We Got This Covered reports that the last movie, The Crimes of Grindelwald, left some fans feeling cold. Aside from being disappointing, that film also faced many boycotts due to controversial statements from J.K. Rowling, whose stock is continuing to drop, as is her image in fans’ eyes.
For those still planning on seeing Dumbledore’s First Army in action, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore will be released on April 15.