Hogwarts head Albus Dumbledore has thus far been primarily played by Richard Harris and then Michael Gambon in the Harry Potter film franchise. Yet while Toby Regbo got the role of a younger Albus in the Deathly Hallows films, Warner Bros. has gone fro a slightly better-known name to tackle his earlier days in the Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them sequel: Jude Law.
Dumbledore's appearance in the spin-off series of films has, of course, already been teased with a mention in the first film, and since the sequel – spoiler alert – will start to tell the story of Gellert Grindelwald (as revealed to be Johnny Depp at the end of Beasts) and how Dumbledore helped to stop him, he'll have a proper presence this time.
Of course, at the time of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and the rest, Dumbledore was simply a Transfiguration professor working at Hogwarts: this was decades before he became headmaster. David Yates is back to direct the sequel, with Potter boss J.K. Rowling once again on script duty and a release date pencilled in for November 2018.
Law has become something of a fixture for Warners between playing Dr. Watston in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes films and reuniting with the director for the upcoming King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword (due out on 19 May.) "As fans ourselves, we are thrilled to have Jude Law joining the Fantastic Beasts cast, playing a character so universally adored," Warner Bros. chief content officer Toby Emmerich tells Variety. "Jude has been a member of the Warner Bros. family for years and we’re excited to embark on this new adventure with him." Taking over a role that Harris and particularly Gambon have owned on screen? We don't envy him, but perhaps he can bring some Young Pope power to young Dumbledore...