7 Things We Want To See In The Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them Sequels

After an absence of five years, J.K. Rowling's phenomenally successful Harry Potter franchise has now returned to the big screen in the form of prequel/spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Based very lightly on the encyclopedia tie-in to her novels, Fantastic Beasts is written by Rowling herself - in her screenwriting debut - and is intended as the first in a new franchise of five movies. Despite - or perhaps because of - the hype surrounding it, the film has been met with a mixed response. While its visuals, humour and world-building have been praised, many have criticized its incredibly slight plot and relatively thin characterization that leaves the actors to do all the hard work. It's also underperformed at the domestic box office, which has cast doubt on whether all of the additional movies will actually happen. We have a feeling, though, that Warner Bros. are going to plow forward with this ship regardless. What they have to do is - much like with their DC Extended Universe - improve as they go along and make sure the second Fantastic Beasts makes up for the first one's shortcomings. If the follow-ups are to be great movies, here are a few things we want them to include. 7) Make Grindelwald An Interesting Villain As revealed in a shocking third act twist (well, it would have been shocking if the news hadn't already been spoiled), Gellert Grindelwald featured in Fantastic Beasts all along. After his disguise as MACUSA auror Percival Graves (as played by Colin Farrell) is done away with, however, Johnny Depp's master villain is carted off to jail before we have even properly met him. We know he's not going to stay there, of course, but we really hope he makes a much more significant impression when he does inevitably return. For those not in the know, Grindelwald was the previous big threat to the Wizarding World before Voldemort. Unlike Tom Riddle, though, he didn't want to wipe out muggle-kind but tyrannically rule them. Something he believed was for "the greater good." It's an important distinction to make clear about the two villains. While Voldemort is basically evil incarnate, Grindelwald is just someone who believes they are committing necessary evils for the good of society as a whole. If handled correctly, he could be a more layered and fascinating antagonist than Voldemort ever was. 6) Dumbledore/Grindelwald Relationship Explored The other thing to know about Grindelwald is that he was the teenage best friend of Dumbledore - except Albus harboured secret romantic feelings for him that went unrequited. This was a throwaway detail in the books, just a footnote in the backstory of the character. In Fantastic Beasts, however, we have the prime opportunity to see this interesting relationship explored head-on. For one, the subtle reveal that Dumbledore was actually gay offended some fans who thought such a character trait should have been more central, as there are still relatively few homosexual heroic characters in children's fiction and in mainstream cinema. Now, Rowling and her team have the chance to depict Dumbledore's sexuality in an open way. This is something that has already been teased by the writer herself, in fact. It would also be fascinating to find out how Grindelwald really felt about Dumbledore. The books do not make it clear whether he rejected Dumbledore's advances or was simply not aware of his friend's true feelings - this would have taken place in Victorian England after all, at a time when homosexuality was a criminal offence. 5) More From Kowalski As fascinating as Dumbledore and Grindelwald are, they're not the only characters we want to see more of in Fantastic Beast's sequels. In a first for the franchise, Fantastic Beasts featured a central muggle (or rather No-Maj) character in Jacob Kowalski. Filling the role of the audience identification figure, Kowalski was looking to open up a bakery when he bumped into Newt Scamander and got caught up in his quest to find his escaped magical creatures. Unlike the other prominent muggles in Harry Potter the Dursleys, Kowalski showed a lot of imagination and bravery when faced with the existence of the Wizarding World. Come the end of the film, though, he had to have his memory obliviated as per Magical Law. As such, it seemed that was that for the character. The film's final moments, though, left things on an ambiguous note. Now the owner of his own successful bakery, Kowalski sees his love interest Queenie in his store and a look passes on his face that suggests that it's all coming back to him. So, is this just an upbeat coda for the character's story, or a sign that he'll be back for more next time around? We hope it's the latter, as Dan Fogel gives a very charming performance in the role. 4) Credence Returns Another person whose fate is left somewhat open-ended by the end of Fantastic Beasts is Credence Barebone. Though he was a somewhat nebulous character in this movie, he has a lot of potential to be a riveting villain in future installments. As played by Justice League's Ezra Miller, Credence is one of the Second Salemers, a group of witch-hating extremists. Really, though, Credence is the son of a witch and has inherited magic. But having been abused both physically and emotionally by his adoptive mother has made his magic turn inward and dark - to the extent that it has grown into a separate parasitic entity. This is a new concept for the Potterverse, called an Obscurus (as the receptacle of the Obscurus, Credence is an Obscurial). By the end of the film, he's apparently been blown to bits by the combined forces of the MACUSA. However, one brief shot sees Newt watch a single airy tendril of the Obscurus drift away. This and Miller's growing career heavily suggest to us that Credence will return. As Grindelwald showed a great interest in the boy in the movie, you can bet that he plans to use Credence as his ultimate weapon in his war against the muggle world. 3) Other Areas Of The Wizarding World Across seven books, and the eight films based off them, we got to know the Britain of Rowling's Wizarding World pretty well. For Fantastic Beasts, the writer got a chance to stretch her legs and portray her own version of the United States and its Magical subculture. While this was successful here, having four more movies set in the US could leave us with itchy feet. What would be best is if each movie relocated to a new area of the world and explored how magic was dealt with in each one. Newt could even become a wizard-y version of James Bond. Thankfully, this looks to be something that Rowling and director David Yates are planning anyway. Reports state that Fantastic Beasts 2 will be at least partly set in Paris. As the start of a round-the-world trip, this could be an interesting new setting. For one, it will likely involve a visit to French Magical school Beauxbatons. The students (both boys and girls in the books, but all female in the movies) have been seen before, but this could be the first look at another school of witchcraft other than Hogwarts. Though we would like to visit another one even more... 2) A Visit To Ilvermorny Any hardcore fans who scour online resource Pottermore for new information will know that Rowling revealed a lot of new facts about North American Magical school Ilvermorny prior to the release of Fantastic Beasts. Everything from its origins, to its customs to its house mascots was made public. It was surprising to find out, then, that the school did not appear in the movie. The only hint at its existence was a single namedrop, in a humorous argument between Newt and Queenie over which school is better. Despite our wish to explore other countries, now that Rowling has whet our appetite for Ilvermorny we want to get the chance to see the place in action. British kids have daydreamed about receiving Hogwarts letters for years now, and American kids deserve to have their own magical school to fantasize about, too. 1) Newt's Character Deepened Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne offered up a winning, measured and physical performance as Newt Scamander. Shy, awkward and hiding behind his floppy hair, Newt only came to life when around his animals and Redmayne made his adoration for his wide variety of pet creatures plain. What wasn't so plain, however, were the other aspects of his personality. Redmayne tried his best but the character Rowling put on the page was not all that fleshed out in this first film. For the sequels, we really want to get a better feel for Newt the person rather than Newt the creature-catching adventurer. The one thing that stuck out about his character in the first movie was the reveal of his childhood sweetheart. Apparently in his Hogwarts days his best friend was Leta Lestrange - yes, one of the dark wizarding family that Sirius' cousin Bellatrix later marries into. It seems that, despite being a kind soul in her youth, Leta reverted to the family ways at some point. Something which left Newt heart-broken, and properly caused him to retreat for people and commit himself to the animal kingdom. X-Men: First Class' Zoe Kravitz is already confirmed to play Leta in the sequel (after appearing briefly in a photo in the first film). Let's hope that Newt's old flame entering his life again brings out some interesting new sides to him, because as it stands, Rowling has her work cut out in making Newt as widely popular as Harry, Ron and Hermione.