'Fantastic Beasts' Fans Have One Question About A Certain Dark Lord

The more Fantastic Beasts links back to the Harry Potter series, the more fans wonder who will be drawn in next. The latest installment, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, not only added Dumbledore to the mix, but also names like McGonagall, Travers, Rosier, Lestrange, and Nagini. Three of those families will join up with Voldemort a generation from now, while Nagini will become his favorite pet. With so many connections, fans really want to know, will Voldemort be in Fantastic Beasts?

Once upon a time, I would have said no. Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them was initially presented as a simple story about a fish-out-of-water British wizard lost in an American city, who accidentally trades cases with a hapless Muggle and then both fall in love with a pair of kick-ass witch sisters. It seemed like bringing Voldemort to the story was too far a leap. The boy known as Tom Riddle was estimated to be born around December of 1926, concurrent with the story at hand, but in no way connected.

But then, Rowling and company revealed their plan was actually a five-movie franchise. The final film would end in 1945, with Dumbledore and Grindelwald facing each other down. Suddenly, Voldemort turning up stopped seeming far-fetched at all.

Consider what viewers know about Voldemort's time in Hogwarts. The boy attended the school in the late 1930s through mid-1940s. Exact dates are never given, save one: Spring of 1943, when the Chamber of Secrets was opened. Tom Riddle is established as being a fifth-year student at the time.

Working backward from Tom Riddle's fifth year being the 1942-1943 school year puts his arrival as a first-year student in September of 1938. Dumbledore's visit to him at Wool's Orphanage is a few months before Riddle's entry into the school.

Now, this does not mean Fantastic Beasts will pause all action sometime in say, the third or fourth movie, to show Dumbledore heading over the Wool's Orphanage. After all, Dumbledore could have done a great many things during the time Newt and company were the ones doing his dirty work in Paris, and the movie didn't bother showing them.

But the Chamber of Secrets incident is another question. After all, it was a huge deal when it happened. Dumbledore defends Hagrid, much the same way he did for Newt back in the day. The school, Dumbledore's place of employment, is nearly shut down. This feels like an incident big enough it could easily intrude upon the proceedings of the final film.

Then there's Nagini, who at the end of Fantastic Beasts 2 finds herself at the gates of Hogwarts. No one has ever known how Nagini and Voldemort met. (There are rumors of them meeting in the forests of Hungary or something.) What if a future visit by Nagini to Hogwarts is how she and the Future Dark Lord meet? It would make sense they would immediately bond, as he speaks parseltongue and can communicate with her on another level.

Fans will find out when the next installment comes out. Fantastic Beasts 3 is slated to arrive in theaters in November of 2020.