Jude Law Talks Portraying Albus Dumbledore As Gay Man In ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Sequel

J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter series is a multimedia juggernaut of a franchise, with its film adaptions alone accruing over $7.7 billion worldwide. Warner Bros.’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, a prequel starring Albus Dumbledore in his middle-aged years, is the latest movie set in the Rowling’s universe. Jude Law is portraying the younger take on the iconic character, and he recently discussed the challenges in creating this version of him.

JUDE LAW ON PORTRAYING ALBUS DUMBLEDORE IN FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD

In his interview with Entertainment Weekly, Law began by explaining how he was familiar with the Harry Potter series, noting that his kids grew up with it so he learned about the magical world through osmosis. He added that he saw and enjoyed the first Fantastic Beasts film.

Moreover, Law was blessed with the opportunity to chat with Rowling herself about Dumbledore’s character and his mindset during this period of his life. “She gave me a very good sense of Albus’ life journey and who he was and what was happening in his head and his heart and his world for this particular story,” Law said.

However, while Law almost certainly kept the performances of the two other actors who donned Dumbledore’s robes, the late Richard Harris and Michael Gambon, “in the back of [his] mind,” the goal for this film was to focus on the wizard in this time period. “This is a man with almost 100 years ahead of him before he became that character so we wanted to look at who he was in this moment and construct our own version,” Law explained. One differentiation between this Dumbledore and the one fans have grown accustomed to is how he doesn’t teach Transfiguration yet.

Perhaps the biggest revelation in the interview concerns Dumbledore’s sexuality, as Rowling has previously confirmed that the man is gay. Law is aware of this aspect of the character, saying, “That was a question I actually asked Jo and she said, yes, he’s gay. But as with humans, your sexuality doesn’t necessarily define you; he’s multifaceted.” While fans know Dumbledore had a relationship with Grindelwald, the iconic wizard’s love life will not be touched upon in this movie. Law does imply we’ll learn more about it the future, mentioning “this is only Part 2 of a longer story.” The plan isn’t to “reveal everything all at once.”

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald will appear in theaters on Nov. 16. You can watch its first trailer here.