Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is flagging, but Jude Law's recent comments signpost a way forward. Emerging in 2016 with the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie, the franchise confirmed itself as a tender and humorous spinoff series based on Harry Potter. This initial movie was followed by 2018's Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and 2022's Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. Despite the success of the first movie in the franchise, follow-ups struggled at the box office due to a Johnny Depp controversy and convoluted plots, but Jude Law, who says there's enough story for Fantastic Beasts 4, flagged a solution for future outings.

Law masterfully portrays a young Albus Dumbledore in the Fantastic Beasts movies, joining Richard Harris and Michael Gambon, both sadly deceased, in the pantheon of brilliant Dumbledore actors. While Harris portrayed Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter movies and Gambon...