If Fantastic Beasts introduced Leta Lestrange via a blink-and-you’ll-miss it cameo (read: a photo buried amongst Newt Scamander’s belongings), 2018’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2 will dramatically expand the canvas for Zoe Kravitz’s “tragic figure.”
A former flame to Eddie Redmayne’s brilliant Magizoologist, Lestrange is poised to have a strong, compelling arc in Fantastic Beasts 2, and Kravitz has assured Potterheads that the David Yates-directed sequel will lend Lestrange “a lot of time to grow and develop” when it roars into theaters late next year.
Chatting to Collider ahead of her role in HBO’s Little Big Lies, Zoe Kravitz touched base on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2, which is expected to enter production sometime this summer.
“No, that starts in June or July, I think. It’s sometime in the summer. I’m very excited. The one day I was on set for that, and also for my audition process, being able to work with Eddie [Redmayne] and David [Yates] was incredible. The script was very under wraps, so even signing onto it, I hadn’t read the script. I just went off of who was involved, and J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter films, so I knew it was going to be incredible, especially with how involved J.K. is. And then, I got to see the film, after I was already signed on, and it exceeded my expectations. That was a really interesting experience, to sit back and watch a movie that you loved, and then get to walk out and say, “I get to be in that!” It’s a very cool thing.”
When asked about Newt and Leta specifically, Kravitz talked more about their “complex relationship.” In the past, we’ve learned that Eddie Redmayne’s lead character – one that won’t always be the focal point of Fantastic Beasts – still harbors feelings for Lestrange, who is described as “quite complicated and damaged and confused.”
I think there’s a few ahead. The relationship between Leta and Newt Scamander is a complex relationship, so I think there will be a lot of time for that to grow and develop, which will be fun.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2 is pegged for November 16, 2018, and will mark the second of Warner’s sprawling five-part saga.
