Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Themwas just as entrenched in dark and serious subject matter as the rest of theHarry Potterfranchise. However, when it comes to the film adaptations of the beloved books,there are aspects of the lore and world-building that were cut in the screen iterations.For the most part, theHarry Pottermovies are successful at touching upon all the most important parts of character development. Despite this, there are still some gaps, like the lack of backstory surrounding the series' antagonist, Lord Voldemort.
SinceFantastic Beasts 4is canceled, as well as the planned fifth installment of the series, there are many holes left in its story, but it’s ultimately unsurprising that the films were scrapped.Fantastic Beastsnever reached the heights of popularity as the originalHarry Pottermovies,and though the spinoffs took place within the same world, they weren’t as compelling, and the stakes felt lower. However, one of the best things aboutFantastic Beastsis that it could build off existing lore from theHarry Potteruniverse and make characters even richer.
Fantastic Beasts 4 Could Have Given Us The Voldemort Backstory The Harry Potter Movies Cut
The existing storylines and sequences of events line up to touch upon Voldemort
In terms of the timeline, ifFantastic Beasts 4had also employed a time jump, as the third installment did,then the fourth film could have overlapped with Tom Riddle’s first years at Hogwarts.Riddle entered school in 1938, and so it would have been the perfect time to introduce the young Voldemort. Additionally, since Dumbledore was such a large part of theFantastic Beastsseries, it makes sense that the movies would have explored their early relationship. There are many reasonswhy theFantastic Beastsfranchise failed, and not using theHarry Potterconnection effectively was part of why.
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Dumbledore’s connection to Riddle during his years at school and the moments when the professor began to see the dark wizard emerging couldn’t have been ignored inFantastic Beasts 4. Since the third movie explores Dumbledore’s past with Grindelwald and his experience with battling dark magic,it would have been a logical progression to see him interact with young Voldemort.Since the audience is already aware that there’s an overlap between these two parts of Dumbledore’s life, viewers would have expected at least a cameo from Riddle, even if this was with a new actor in the role.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
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Fantastic Beasts 4 Would Have Made Voldemort An Even Better Villain Through His Origin
The added depth that the family history gives Voldemort enriches his character
InHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry learns about Voldemort’s lineage and his connection to the pure-blood wizarding family, the Gaunts. Voldemort’s mother is a Gaunt who falls in love with a local muggle, Voldemort’s father, despite the bigoted beliefs of her family surrounding muggles. Upon learning of his origins, as he ages,Voldemort seeks out the Riddle family, his paternal line, and murders them all,pinning the blame on his mother’s brother, who’s sent to Azkaban. It’s a brutal and cruel act that shows how far gone Voldemort is, even before he fully ascends as the Dark Lord.
Even though this backstory would have been revealed many years afterHarry Potterconcluded, it would have made Voldemort seem even more terrifying and ruthless than he already was.
Additionally, Voldemort finds out that his mother used a love potion on his father to conceive him, which connects to his anger towards love as an emotion. There are manythings audiences don’t know about Tom Riddle before he was Voldemort, butthis piece of information is vital in shaping how Harry and the audience view Voldemort.Fantastic Beasts 4could have shown parts of this past. Even though this backstory would have been revealed many years afterHarry Potterconcluded, it would have made Voldemort seem even more terrifying and ruthless than he already was.
Voldemort’s Origin Story Would Have Strengthened The Spinoff’s Harry Potter Connection
Fantastic Beasts needed to tie into the main storyline more effectively
There are manyHarry Pottermovie scenes that book readers hate, andthe omission of the Gaunt storyline is one of the biggest missteps of the films.Including it inFantastic Beasts 4would have achieved two wins for the franchise at the same time. One of the problems with the spinoffs is that they feel disconnected from the world ofHarry Potterthat audiences know from the earlier movies. With only a few characters bridging the gap between stories, there needed to be a narrative anchor as well, and Voldemort is one of the biggest parts ofHarry Potter.
TheHarry PotterHBO TV remake will premiere in 2026 (viaDeadline).
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Themmight have come to an end, but there’s still a path forward for Voldemort’s history and the Gaunt legacy to make its way onto the screen. As the HBO TV show remake ofHarry Pottergets closer to production, there’s a chance that it could achieve the magical atmosphere and world-building that the spinoffs always fell short of. While characters like Newt made the movies worth watching, none were as iconic as Harry and Voldemort and their epic battle of good versus evil.
Fantastic Beasts
TheFantastic Beastsfranchise is a prequel and spin-off of theHarry Potterseries, set in the Wizarding World. It follows the adventures of Newt Scamander, a magizoologist who travels the globe studying magical creatures. The series expands into the political and social conflicts of the magical community, particularly the rise of dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald and his confrontation with a younger Albus Dumbledore. The films focus on themes of friendship, loyalty, and the battle between good and evil, against the backdrop of a magical world in the early 20th century.
