The Fantastic Beasts movies have already included a couple of characters from the Harry Potter universe, and there are still more that can appear in future movies. Back in 1997, J.K. Rowling introduced readers to the Wizarding World through Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the first entry in what would become a series of seven novels. The story of Harry Potter was adapted to the big screen between 2001 and 2011, with the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, being split into two movies.
Because the success of the Harry Potter movie series was so big and fans were left wanting more stories from the Wizarding World, a spin-off prequel was released in 2016. Titled Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, the movie was written by Rowling inspired by her “guide book” of the same name, published in 2001. The movie follows magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) who arrives to New York City in search of magical creatures, but ends up coming across with a dark force terrorizing the city. The movie was a box office success, making way for a sequel that arrived two years later.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald expanded on the Wizarding World’s history pre-Harry Potter, following Gellert Grindelwald’s (Johnny Depp) plans to raise an army of wizards to rule over muggles. Scamander then asks Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) for help to stop the powerful and dark wizard. The movie featured other characters that were introduced in the Harry Potter series, most notably Nagini (in her human form), and with a third movie on the way (and quite possibly two more), which other characters from Potter’s time could appear in the Fantastic Beasts series?
Aberforth Dumbledore
The big reveal in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald about Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller) actually being Aurelius Dumbledore makes way for future movies to explore the Dumbledore family a bit further. Known members of the family are Percival Dumbledore, a wizard sent to Azkaban for attacking muggles after they attacked his daughter; Kendra Dumbledore, a muggle-born witch killed in an accidental magical explosion caused by her daughter; Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts and one of the most powerful wizards ever; Aberforth Dumbledore, barman of the Hog’s Head pub in Hogsmeade and member of the original Order of the Phoenix during the First Wizarding War; and Ariana Dumbledore, a witch who was attacked by muggles when she was six and was left traumatized to the point of rendering her magical abilities uncontrollable. One of the biggest tragedies in the Dumbledore family was that of Ariana’s death, when she was accidentally struck by a curse in a three-way duel between her brothers and Grindelwald.
This event further fractured the relationship between Albus and Aberforth, which hadn’t been the best as Aberforth felt overshadowed by his brother’s exceptional magical capabilities. Still, Aberforth joined the Battle of Hogwarts years later, and forgave his brother after learning he drank the Drink of Despair. With the appearance of yet another Dumbledore brother (even if some dates don’t match), Aberforth could show up in future movies not only to explore his relationship with Albus and Grindelwald, who he understandably hates, but also with this new brother, and could even shed some light on whether Credence is a true Dumbledore family member or not.
Ariana Dumbledore
Ariana Dumbledore died years before the events of Fantastic Beasts, but she can still appear in flashbacks. As mentioned above, she played a big role in her brothers’ complicated relationship, especially as Aberforth didn’t like the way Albus treated her following their mother’s death, and Albus and Grindelwald were planning on taking her with them while they fulfilled their plans to enslave muggles. Albus could never forgive himself for her death, so much that in the Mirror of Erised, he saw his whole family alive and well, even though he always claimed to see himself holding a pair of socks.
Given that Ariana’s life and death are a big part of Albus Dumbledore’s life and he’s now part of the Fantastic Beasts series (not to mention the involvement of Grindelwald in her death), her story will have to be explored at some point, mostly through flashbacks. Aberforth’s appearance would make Ariana’s inclusion easier, as does the exploration of Credence/Aurelius’ backstory, as both have a history of trauma and abuse.
Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort
Grindelwald walked so Voldemort could run. The former is one of the most powerful and dangerous Dark Wizards of all time, who planned on finding the Deathly Hallows and lead a Wizarding revolution that would allow him to dominate and enslave muggles – very much like Voldemort. Surely, Fantastic Beasts takes place many years before the events of the Harry Potter series, but Tom Riddle was born in 1926, which is when the first Fantastic Beasts movie takes place. With that in mind, future movies could include a young Tom Riddle and his rise as Voldemort could then be explored as a side-story, with the series serving as a prequel-of-sorts for the character.
The Fantastic Beasts series is planned to have a total of five movies, and if it intends to follow Grindelwald’s story until the very end, Voldemort will definitely have to appear, as he killed Grindelwald in his cell at Nurmengard Castle after he refused to give up the location of the Elder Wand (as a way to achieve some level of redemption).
Bathilda Bagshot
Professor Bathilda Bagshot was a witch, magical historian, and author of A History of Magic, as well as Grindelwald’s great-aunt and the one responsible for him meeting Albus. Bathilda lived in Godric’s Hollow, and became acquainted with the Dumbledore family when they moved there following Percival’s imprisonment. After Albus graduated from Hogwarts, Grindelwald moved in with her and she introduced him to Albus – the rest is history. Not much is known about Bathilda between then and her death around December 1997 (she was murdered, and her corpse was animated by Voldemort to contain Nagini), other than her closeness to Lily Potter and her having some of the letters between Albus and Grindelwald, which Rita Skeeted later stole. But as Rowling has been changing the Wizarding World canon as she pleases, Bathilda Bagshot could have a role in future Fantastic Beasts movies, adding more to Grindelwald’s past.
Other Harry Potter Characters Who Can Appear In Fantastic Beasts
Mykew Gregorovitch is another often forgotten character from the Harry Potter series who can still show up in Fantastic Beasts. Gregorovitch was a wandmaker and competitor of Garrick Ollivander, who got a hold of the Elder Wand at some point and tried to duplicate its powers (he obviously failed). Grindelwald stole the wand from him, and shot a Stunning Spell at Gregorovitch before escaping. Being one of the few that have held and studied the Elder Wand, Gregorovitch could have a place in the Fantastic Beasts series.
As there’s no way of telling what the series’ limits when it comes to time settings will be, and with Rowling changing Harry Potter canon and doing what she wants with dates and backstories, then characters like young Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange, as well as Hagrid, could appear at some point. Perhaps one of the few characters that can show up without having to go through a retcon is Horace Slughorn. He became Potions Master at Hogwarts around the same time as Dumbledore started, and then became the Head of Slytherin House. Slughorn is mostly remembered for being the one who told Tom Riddle about horcruxes, so if Fantastic Beasts adds Riddle’s story, Slughorn would have to make an appearance. Of course, all this could change for better or worse as the movies are developed, mainly because Rowling is the one in charge of writing the stories, and she can (and will) change anything in order to fit the story she wants to tell.