Newt Scamander drops into danger in Fantastic Beasts 2 image

The success of the first FANTASTIC BEASTS proved the HARRY POTTER world was as popular as ever, and now we have a whole new and magical set of movies on our hands. We were treated to the first cast photo recently as well as the title, FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD, referring to the baddie, Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp). Now that we’ve seen the gang together we can see them in action, and the first photo from the movie has magically appeared. Well, it’s not magic if someone posted it, but, you get what I mean.

The first photo comes courtesy of EW and shows Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander in a rather nasty situation, forced to explore the sewers. We don’t know what he’s doing down there, but one theory to take from this is that Newt may be looking for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to add to his suitcase of creatures. Hope his wand can fight back against skateboards.

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As well, EW included a photo of Redmayne chilling with actor Jude Law, who will play the young Albus Dumbledore in this movie. Here he looks much more casual than he did in the cast photo, rocking a look that meshes Dumbledore with Justin Timberlake.

As the photo hints, this movie will find Newt heading into darker territory than he did in the previous film, and director David Yates confirms this movie will be unlike anything we could expect:

The first film had a level of whimsy; the characters felt like children in grown-up bodies. In this movie, it gets grittier and more nuanced and detailed. It’s quite a romantic film, it’s a thriller, it’s quite an interesting combination of genres you rarely see together. I think it will surprise people.

Considering we have more than a year to go before the sequel is released we sure are getting a good amount of information. We’ve seen the whole cast, got the title, and now we’re seeing first looks at the movie and have a good idea how the movie will evolve from the first film. I liked the first movie plenty, even if it didn’t have the same flair as the POTTER films. But this is an entirely new story in so many ways, and whatever story they’re hoping to tell will surely take shape come CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD. Still not hot on that title, though.

FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD hits theaters November 16, 2018.