Ever since the announcement of "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," Harry Potter fans have been eagerly anticipating the appearance of certain characters in younger forms. The whole prequel franchise revolves around Newt Scamander, the fictitious author of a book used at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to train future magic folk to properly identify and take "care of magical creatures," as the school subject suggests.
This franchise may have brought us one of the most successful prequels in film history, with many others such as "Star Wars" failing to impress fans with their backstory.
"Star Trek" was another series with a "soft reboot" prequel which failed to impress audiences, at least until the release of "Star Trek Beyond."
Young Professor Dumbledore is set to be portrayed by Jude Law
The "Sherlock Holmes" actor has seen quite a career in cinema, though not often as a lead actor. In the aforementioned series, which is expected to land a second sequel according to the Internet Movie Database, Law played Dr. John Watson. The reason he may not have received the attention he likely deserved was because he was the costar to Robert Downey, Jr., whose Iron Man launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the virtual stratosphere. It's difficult to shine when you're playing opposite a man of that much renown.
Jude's Professor Dumbledore isn't the only returning character from the "Harry Potter" series, though. He joins Johnny Depp, whose career is a bit more decorated with "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Alice in Wonderland," and the Tim Burton classic "Edward Scissorhands." Depp plays the villain Grindelwald, mentioned mostly in another tale used in "The Deathly Hallows" to explain what the titular items were, having previously only appeared as an animated character.
Will audiences accept yet another Dumbledore?
'Fantastic Beasts' could set a new benchmark for how prequel sequels (yes, that is a bit confusing) are done if Jude Law succeeds in playing a decent homage to the character which Richard Harris and Michael Gambon brought to life in the original films. Jude could easily be under the most intense scrutiny with fans of the series.
Fans of all franchises have been known for disliking the young version of characters already established. Though James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender proved them wrong in the "X-Men" prequels, and Zachary Quinto convinced audiences he was the new Spock, Hayden Christensen failed to make audiences believe he was a teenage Darth Vader. The re-casting of nearly all of the iconic X-Men in "Apocalypse" proved to be a massive failure with fans as well.
What do you think? Will the "Sherlock Holmes" actor effectively bring Dumbledore to his early years?
