Jude Law opens up about Dumbledore’s sexuality in Fantastic Beasts sequel
By Poonam Patel
Jude Law recently spoke about his role in The Fantastic Beasts sequel and revealed what we can (and can’t) expect from Dumbledore.
When Jude Law was announced as the young Dumbledore in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, there was enough praise to minimize the thoughts of anyone who disagreed with the casting. Besides a few pictures of his attractive version of Dumbledore, little has been said about the character and Law’s views on the iconic role he got to play. But others have been talking.
A lot of controversy has been surrounding the character’s sexuality since the beginning of the year. Back in 2007, J.K. Rowling let Dumbledore out of the closet just after the release of the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Many of her fans and others have since wondered if Dumbledore will ever be openly gay in the films, but David Yates was quick to squash that earlier this year.
After confirming with Rowling that Dumbledore is in fact gay, Law was okay with revealing this information at its own pace. “What you got to remember [is] this is only the second Fantastic Beasts film in a series, and what’s brilliant about Jo’s writing is how she reveals her characters, peels them to the heart over time. You’re just getting to know Albus in this film, and there’s obviously a lot more to come,” he said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
He went on to reveal that he didn’t have any scenes with Johnny Depp, who plays Dumbledore’s past love interest Grindlewald, saying:
"As I said before, this is only part two of a longer story. I’ve always admired him from afar, but we don’t know each other, and I’ve not yet met him on this. In many ways that suits the relationship as it’s been many years since they’ve seen each other. So there’s complexity in that that’s fun to mine. Again, the past will reveal itself."
This seems to back up what Yates had intended, who previously explained Dumbledore would not be “explicitly” gay in the sequel, but that fans shouldn’t make this the focus seeing as it’s the past. “He had a very intense relationship with Grindelwald when they were young men. They fell in love with each other’s ideas, and ideology and each other,” he added when he spoke to Entertainment Weekly.
Now with Law backing up Yates and Rowling, it makes some question the movie’s intentions with Dumbledore — and why they would essentially ignore his sexual orientation in the film altogether. While it might be a small matter to Rowling, the decision hurts LGBTQ representation and backtracks on the progress she made when she revealed Dumbledore was gay. Ultimately, Law did hint that there could be more films to come. So will his sexuality ever come to light in the Harry Potter film universe?
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Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is set to be released Nov. 16. Will you be seeing it?