Sep 13th 2013, 17:11, by Kevin P. Sullivan
Yesterday, J.K. Rowling revealed her plans to spoil us all with a new movie set in the "Harry Potter" universe that she's writing. The films based on "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" will follow the fictional encyclopedia's author, Newt Scamander, seventy years before the events of Rowling's classic series of books.
Since the events of the "Harry Potter" series begin in 1991, that places the timeline for the "Fantastic Beasts" movie somewhere in the 1920s, long before Harry or even his parents were born. So while we won't see the likes of Hermione Granger or Ron Weasley, there are a number of "Harry Potter" characters that could appear as younger versions of themselves.
Gellert Grindelwald (1882-1998)
The 1920s setting of "Fantastic Beasts" might be before Voldemort's rise to power, but there is a dark wizard that would make for more than a formidable villain. Grindelwald, the baddie that captured a young Dumbledore's heart only to turn against his former friend, was at the height of his power during the years that Newt Scamander was cataloguing magical beasts.
Albus Dumbledore (1881-1997)
Speaking of the "best loved of all Hogwarts headmasters," Jennifer Vineyard at Vulture pointed out that Dumbledore was the Transfiguration professor while Newt Scamander was at Hogwarts. While it appears that the action of "Fantastic Beasts" will likely pick up after Scamander's graduation, it's not worth ruling out a Dumbledore cameo or mention of his name entirely. It should also be mentioned that Dumbledore wrote a celebrated paper on trans-species transfiguration while a student at Hogwarts.
Elphias Doge (b. 1881)
Albus Dumbledore and his boyhood chum had plans to travel the world after Hogwarts, but the death of the former's mother kept him in England, while Doge went off on adventures. Out in the world, he encountered a Chimaera, a beast with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, the tail of a dragon and a XXXXX-rated beast in Scamander's book. It's possible that Scamander and Doge teamed up at some point to encounter even more dangerous creatures.
Bathilda Bagshot (1881-1997)
Grindelwald's great-aunt was also the author of a famous wizarding text book. Bagshot wrote "A History of Magic," a book that would serve as the text for Harry's most boring class at Hogwarts. Though we know all about the grisly end that Bagshot met during the events of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," her life between then and meeting a young Albus Dumbledore in Godric's Hollow is largely a mystery.
Tom Riddle, Sr. (1905-1943)
Similar to Bagshot, we know the early details about the life of Voldemort's father and how he dies, but the middle is a potential period for encounters with Scamander. Tom Sr.'s role in the Harry Potter saga, however, does seem to intertwine him too much in that storyline for Rowling incorporate him here.
Who would you like to see in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them"? Let us know in the comments below and on Twitter!
