Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022): Cast, Plot and Ending Explained

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore sets up a problem that no spell can solve: Albus Dumbledore knows the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald is gathering power and planning a war on the nonmagical world, yet a magical blood pact stops the two men from fighting each other directly. So, Dumbledore has to work through other people, and he quietly puts together a small team led by his former student Newt Scamander.

The team includes Newt's brother Theseus, the baker Jacob Kowalski and the teacher Lally Hicks. Their business centers on a newborn qilin, a rare creature whose powers matter to the coming election for head of the international wizarding body. Newt is caught up in the creature's fate, and the story turns on who controls it before the vote.

If you are new to the spinoffs, this film follows Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, which introduce Newt, Jacob, Queenie and Credence. The full story is below, behind a spoiler flag.

The full plot of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore runs from Dumbledore's confession to Grindelwald to the breaking of the blood pact in the finale. Spoilers follow.

Dumbledore tells Grindelwald that he once loved him and shared his vision. In China, Newt helps a qilin give birth, but Credence kills the mother and steals one of the newborns. Dumbledore then explains to Newt and Theseus that the blood pact prevents him from harming Grindelwald. Grindelwald kills the stolen qilin, intending to use its power of foresight, and his follower Queenie hears about it.

Dumbledore sends his team to Berlin, where Grindelwald has been cleared of his charges and can stand for leader of the wizarding world. The qilin traditionally chooses that leader by bowing, which is why the creature matters so much. Grindelwald captures Theseus, and Newt breaks him out of prison. Meanwhile, Dumbledore faces Credence and tells him that he is a Dumbledore by blood.

Grindelwald brings the dead qilin back with a charm so that it will bow to him. The team escapes with the living qilin hidden in one of several identical suitcases and travels on to Bhutan. Grindelwald's followers take the cases and Jacob is caught. The dead qilin bows, Grindelwald wins the election and he declares war on nonmagical people.

Then the plan turns. Credence reveals that the dead qilin is a fake, and the living qilin bows to the honest candidate Vicência Santos, who becomes the rightful leader. Grindelwald tries to strike Credence, Dumbledore and Aberforth shield him, and the clash of their spells breaks the blood pact.

The world premiere of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore took place on March 29, 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Warner Bros. UK announced the London event, and J.K. Rowling's own site covered the evening in an article dated March 30, 2022.

The theatrical release followed in stages. Australia came first on April 7, 2022, the UK followed on April 8, and the US opened on April 15, according to Box Office Mojo and TMDB. The film carries a PG-13 rating in the US, 12A in the UK and M in Australia, and its running time is 142 minutes.

For viewers working through the saga, the release order and the story order disagree here: this is the eleventh film released but the third in chronological order, since the three Fantastic Beasts films sit before the Hogwarts story. The Harry Potter movies in order page lays out both sequences, and the Harry Potter timeline places the films against the events.

The ending of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore explains itself in three beats: the qilin chooses Vicência Santos, the blood pact breaks, and Grindelwald flees as a free enemy. Spoilers follow.

The living qilin bows to Vicência Santos, so Grindelwald loses his claim to lead the wizarding world, even though the fake qilin had already crowned him. When he tries to kill Credence, Dumbledore and Aberforth protect the young man, and the clashing magic breaks the pact that kept Dumbledore from acting against him. Grindelwald runs, and the two men are now able to face each other. Credence, weak and dying, is taken home by Aberforth.

The last scene is quieter. In New York, Jacob and Queenie marry, with Newt and Tina in the wedding party, and Dumbledore watches from afar before he leaves. In my opinion, that scene is the film's real conclusion for the ensemble, because it gives the Jacob and Queenie thread a warm close while the larger conflict is left open for what comes next.

It could be argued that the broken pact matters more than the election result. The vote is a public contest that Grindelwald loses once the fake qilin is exposed, but the pact was the governing rule of the whole story, and its end removes the reason Dumbledore had to work through Newt's team. Perhaps that is why the film feels more like a Dumbledore chapter than a Newt one.

The franchise's next project is the Harry Potter TV series on HBO, which TODAY reported as set for December 25, 2026. For what is confirmed and what is only rumor, see the new Harry Potter movie page.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore was shot almost completely at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in England, using six sound stages and the backlot. The story visits Berlin and Bhutan, but those settings were built at the studio and extended with visual effects instead of being filmed on location.

Principal photography began in London in September 2020, under COVID-19 safety measures, and production wrapped in February 2021 after a pause. Leavesden was also where principal photography began on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and the main location for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, so the sets for this film sit in a studio the saga used before.

The trivia for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore centers on its casting change, its production and its release timing.

• Mads Mikkelsen replaced Johnny Depp as Grindelwald, and Deadline reported him in talks for the part in November 2020.
• The film was shot almost completely at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, using six sound stages and the backlot.
• Principal photography began in London in September 2020 and wrapped in February 2021 after a pause.
• The UK release on April 8, 2022 came a week before the US release on April 15.
• James Newton Howard composed the score, as he did for the earlier Fantastic Beasts films.
• The film cost a reported $200 million to produce and earned about twice that worldwide.
• Ezra Miller is credited with two character names, Credence Barebone and Aurelius Dumbledore.
• It is the third and final Fantastic Beasts film released so far, and sits third in the chronological order of all eleven films.