The Fantastic Beasts 3 trailer gives us our first look at Mads Mikkelsen’s Grindelwald

The official trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore has finally arrived – bringing with it the first proper look at Mads Mikkelsen’s Grindelwald.

Fans were given a sneak preview of the trailer in a promotional video released by Warner Bros. on Friday, December 10, but this full-length offering reveals more of what audiences can expect when the movie releases in theaters in April 2022. 

The third instalment in the Fantastic Beasts franchise – and the eleventh film to be set in the Wizarding World – The Secrets of Dumbledore will see Eddie Redmayne reprise his role as Newt Scamander, as he digs deeper into the potentially chequered past of Jude Law’s titular wizard.

You can check out the trailer below:

In the new footage, Dumbledore can be heard giving Scamander an ominous warning: “The world as we know it is coming undone,” he says, “Grindelwald’s pulling it apart with hate. If we’re to defeat him, you’ll have to trust me.”

Judging by the title, it’s a safe bet to assume that Law’s character – played by both Richard Harris and Michael Gambon in the Harry Potter series – will be the key to defeating the silver-haired antagonist. 

We get to see Mads Mikkelsen’s version of Grindelwald in full cry for the first time in this trailer, too. The Danish actor was chosen to replace Johnny Depp in the role following unrelated legal action against the latter last year, and he looks every bit as menacing as you’d expect.

It’s no surprise, though, given the actor’s history playing the foil to heroes such as Doctor Strange (as Kaecilius) and James Bond (as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, with whom Grindelwald shares a similarly sinister discolored pupil). 

Don’t expect a carbon copy of Depp’s Grindelwald, either. Mikkelsen told Entertainment Weekly in 2020: “There has to be a bridge between what Johnny did and what I’m going to do. And at the same time, I also have to make it my own. But also we have to find a few links [to the previous version of the character] and some bridges so it doesn’t completely detach from what he’s already masterfully achieved.”

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore will also reunite long-time Harry Potter director David Yates with producers David Heyman, J.K. Rowling, Steve Kloves, Lionel Wigram and Tim Lewis – all of whom collaborated on the previous two films in the Fantastic Beasts series.

Whether the third entry in the franchise can ignite the same interest as its predecessors remains to be seen, but with Harry Potter’s Return To Hogwarts special arriving on HBO Max this New Year’s Day, you can be sure that fans of the Wizarding World have an exciting few months ahead.