While last year’s release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them saw the triumphant return of the beloved Wizarding World that was made famous by the Harry Potter books and films. However, next year’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald may trump that anticipation.

In the film, we will be seeing Dumbledore for the first time since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, and this time around, he will be portrayed by actor Jude Law. So far, we’ve seen a single cast photo of both him and his rival and frenemy Grindelwald, and now in a new piece from USA Today, we got one more photo of each character.

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Check them out below:

More and more, Fantastic Beasts is not only looking to be a franchise that stands on its own merits, but one that works to enrich the world establish in author J.K. Rowling’s original stories. Seeing the pasts of characters like Dumbledore and Grindelwald could help to make this so, and these first photos are very encouraging.

Of course, conversely, it’s also possible that by showing us some of these events play out, it’ll be more underwhelming than we imagined in our heads. Regarding that, I will say, the advantage they have here is that they are tackling a time period that hasn’t been mentioned as much in the source material, and as such, there are few concrete expectations of certain events that should happen.

More than anything, I’m interested to see just how Dumbledore and Newt Scamander’s stories intersect. Just what does Dumbledore think of Newt as a person? Speaking with the outlet, director David Yates said:

“Dumbledore sees Newt as a kindred spirit, an outsider, who is misunderstood. They recognize each other’s strengths and vulnerabilities.”

We can’t wait to see what kind of interactions this brings.

What do you think of the new photos of Dumbledore and Grindelwald? Let us know down below!

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SOURCE: USA Today