If you are not a Potterhead, here is a quick recap. In 2007, author JK Rowling outed Albus Dumbledore as a gay man and revealed that he fell in love with the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. Since then, fans of the Harry Potter franchise have been dying to see Dumbledore’s canon gay romance. Now that the Fantastic Beasts film series will explore their relationship, Potterheads are more excited than ever. But there’s more good news. Reportedly, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald will also feature “sensual moments” between Dumbledore and Grindelwald.
In an interview for Empire magazine‘s November 2018 issue excerpted in Advocate, Fantastic Beasts director David Yates said, “This part of this huge narrative that Jo (Rowling) is creating doesn’t focus on his sexuality, but we’re not airbrushing or hiding it.” Yates added, “The story (of the romantic relationship) isn’t there in this particular movie but it’s clear in what you see… that he is gay.”
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Fans had already picked up on this when the final Fantastic Beasts 2 trailer showed Dumbledore seeing a vision of Grindelwald in the Mirror of Erised — which reveals what one truly desires most.
Earlier in January, Yates had said that Dumbledore’s sexuality will not be “explicitly” explored, giving fans the impression that the Dumbledore-Grindelwald ship, or Grindeldore as it is popularly known in the fandom, will be heavily subtextual. Yates clarified, “A couple of scenes we shot are very sensual moments of him and the young Grindelwald.”
However, the director says that he remains unsure about the degree of acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community in the Wizarding World in the film’s timeline (the film is set in 1927).
Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
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While speaking to Entertainment Weekly in July, Law himself had weighed-in on how the wizard’s sexuality will be depicted. He had said, “Your sexuality doesn’t necessarily define you; he (Dumbledore) is multifaceted.” He added, “What you got to remember 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.”
Basically, it’s a five-part film series, so we all gotta be patient until November 16, when the film hits the theatres.
