Though Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald underwhelmed at the box office, the desire for more Harry Potter flotsam at boardroom level apparently hasn’t waned.
According to sources close to WGTC – the same ones who said Disney is doing a Beauty and the Beast spinoff for Gaston, and that National Treasure 3 is in development, both of which are now confirmed – Warner Bros. are looking to develop a Lord Voldemort origins movie, one that’ll focus on how he became the Wizarding World’s Dark Lord. And one name they’re eyeing to star as the young version of the iconic character is Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp.
Personally, I don’t know how desperate fans are for Potter-verse anthology films in the vein of Disney’s Star Wars spinoffs. If someone could take the temperature of fandom-hype in the comments section, that would be appreciated. From my end, prequels and prequel spinoffs are a dubious territory that tend to do more harm than good, particularly when it comes to supervillains.
Just look at Darth Vader, possibly the greatest film baddie of all-time (certainly the most iconic). He was retconned into a mopey teenaged dork in George Lucas’ ill-fated origins-exposé. As is so often the case with revealing the official backstory of a revered character, the canonized truth detracted from the mystery. You can say far more with the suggestion of a dark past than writing in an underwhelming one. In other words, Warner Bros., be careful what you wish for.
That’s not to say all prequels are a bad idea, of course. Better Call Saul is proving you can handle it very well indeed. Here’s to a Voldemort origins story that adds to the character then, as opposed to neutering him for all eternity. After all, I’m sure all Harry Potter fans would rather J.K. Rowling didn’t Lucas things up any more than she already has with Fantastic Beasts. Ay-ay-ay.
