Warner Bros. has officially revealed the third film in the Fantastic Beasts series will be called Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore - but what secrets is this referring to? J.K. Rowling loves nothing more than an unexpected plot twist, and the Fantastic Beasts series has certainly supplied an abundance of those; the first ultimately revealed the true villain was the dark wizard Grindelwald, a legendary part of Harry Potter lore whose true history was hinted at in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
But the sequel, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, went in an even more unexpected direction. It revealed the powerful wizard Credence - an Obscurial whose magic was incalculable in its power and dangerously out-of-control - was in reality Aurelius Dumbledore, Albus' never-mentioned younger brother. This naturally raised massive questions about the Dumbledore line, especially since Credence is under the sway of Gellert Grindelwald, who is destined to take Europe by storm and ultimately to be defeated by Albus in one of the most famous wizarding duels in history. It's currently unclear how Credence fits into the canon, but Rowling has promised many unanswered questions will be resolved in Fantastic Beasts 3.
Warner Bros. has confirmed Fantastic Beasts 3 is called "The Secrets of Dumbledore." No doubt most viewers will fix their attention upon Albus Dumbledore himself, given Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows strongly suggested Albus' history with Grindelwald is his deepest, darkest secret. There, Harry learned Albus Dumbledore had secretly fallen for the charismatic Grindelwald while he was still young, and his infatuation had led to a family tragedy. This was the real reason Albus was reluctant to confront Grindelwald during his rise to power; he still loved him, and he was unsure he was emotionally strong enough to be able to beat him. It's quite possible Newt Scamander and his friends will discover this truth in Fantastic Beasts 3, allowing the Harry Potter franchise to stop avoiding Albus Dumbledore's homosexuality.
J.K. Rowling is fond of word-games, though, and it's quite possible the title of Fantastic Beasts 3 is intended to deceive. After all, there are now multiple Dumbledores in the world of Fantastic Beasts, so the secrets that are revealed may well be related to Credence instead. So much of Credence's past remains a mystery after Grindewald's revelations in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald; are Credence's mother and father Kendra and Percival Dumbledore, or is he in fact a half-brother? Why was his existence erased from history? And, most importantly of all, how will the news he has a sibling he never knew about affect Albus Dumbledore? The Credence-Aurelius twist affects a character who lies at the heart of the Harry Potter saga, making it absolutely fascinating.
Just as with the books, it's likely Fantastic Beasts 3's title works on multiple levels. If that's the case, this could be the film that finally strips away all the layers of secrecy surrounding Dumbledore's family and backstory, exposing them to the cold light of day. This would certainly justify its place in Harry Potter lore, although it is rather a shame the focus of these movies is drifting ever further away from Newt Scamander and his friends, who they were originally supposed to be about.
