J.K. Rowling Hints That Dumbledore Could be Openly Gay in ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Sequels

Author J.K. Rowling confirmed at a press conference yesterday that the new ‘Fantastic Beasts’ franchise, a prequel series to the Harry Potter franchise, will see several Potter characters in their younger years. One we know for sure will be the Headmaster of Hogwarts himself, Albus Dumbledore. Rowling hinted that we could see a less private Dumbledore struggling with his own sexuality in the sequels to come, Variety reports.

Well, I’m very comfortable with the question. I would like to say, because this is obviously a five-part story, there’s lots to unpack in that relationship … You will see Dumbledore as a younger man and quite a troubled man. We’ll see him at that formative period of his life. As far as his sexuality is concerned. Watch this space.

Although Dumbledore’s sexuality was never explored in the films or the books, Rowling confirmed the character was gay back in 2007 during an interview at Carnegie Hall.

My truthful answer to you… I always thought of Dumbledore as gay. [ovation.] … Dumbledore fell in love with Grindelwald, and that that added to his horror when Grindelwald showed himself to be what he was. To an extent, do we say it excused Dumbledore a little more because falling in love can blind us to an extent? But, he met someone as brilliant as he was, and rather like Bellatrix he was very drawn to this brilliant person, and horribly, terribly let down by him. Yeah, that’s how i always saw Dumbledore. In fact, recently I was in a script read through for the sixth film, and they had Dumbledore saying a line to Harry early in the script saying I knew a girl once, whose hair… [laughter]. I had to write a little note in the margin and slide it along to the scriptwriter, “Dumbledore’s gay!” [laughter] “If I’d known it would make you so happy, I would have announced it years ago!”

With the inclusion of Grindelwald played by Johnny Depp in the upcoming sequels to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them — which is currently capped at five films — it seems likely the films will explore this challenging time in Dumbledores life.

While the LGBTQ community is majorly underrepresented in Hollywood and still has a long way to go, I applaud Warner Bros. for making the brave choice to stay true to Rowling’s vision and realize such a major character as Dumbledore as a gay character on screen. No doubt the studio — which has been struggling to craft a successful franchise since the end of The Dark Knight trilogy — saw this as a major financial risk and it’s good to see they are going to take the chance anyway. The risk-adverse nature of Hollywood is starting to backfire on studios, evident in the amount of rejected remakes, reboots, and sequels from this past summer. With Netflix taking chances and having them pay off in major ways, it would seem they truly are shaking up the industry and moving us back towards a place where films take bold creative risks.

The first entry in the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ franchise titled Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them hits theaters November 18, 2016.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opens in 1926 as Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Arriving in New York for a brief stopover, he might have come and gone without incident…were it not for a No-Maj (American for Muggle) named Jacob (Dan Fogler), a misplaced magical case, and the escape of some of Newt’s fantastic beasts, which could spell trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj worlds.

SOURCES: VARIETY, THE LEAKY CAULDRON

‘Supergirl’: “Heroes Vs. Aliens” Preview

The first look at this years CW mega-crossover event is here. The 4-night crossover will feature The Dominators as the main villains set to take on the heroes of Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow. In the comics, The Dominators were an Alien race interested in harnessing the metagene (the gene that gives metahumans their powers) to enhance members of their own species featured in the storyline titled “Invasion”. The four-episode event will be the network’s biggest crossover in history.

The 4-night crossover event begins in three weeks at the end of Supergirl on Monday, November 28^th, and will then carry over to The Flash on Tuesday, Arrow on Wednesday, and conclude on Legends of Tomorrow that Thursday night.

The crossover episode of Arrow also happens to be the series’ 100^th episode and will see the return of many cast members including Katie Cassidy, John Barrowman, Neal Mcdonough, and Susanna Thompson. Colin Donnell‘s schedule could not allow him to return as he is currently committed to Chicago Med but Marc Guggenheim promises the character of Tommy will be represented in the episode he describes as a love letter to the show’s previous 99 episodes.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Guggenheim dished on the upcoming crossover which he said will be the most ambitious filmmaking in the history of network television.

This year, we’re doing by far the most ambitious crossover we’ve ever done. It’s basically a huge three-part story that also brings in Supergirl, so it’s crossing over all four shows. It’s telling one big epic movie of a story. It’s not setting up any other spin-offs, it’s just big, bombastic, huge action. There’s also some really poignant character moments. There’s a lot of plot lines, particularly I would say in Flash and Legends, that come to fruition in the crossover. It’s by far the most ambitious thing we’ve ever attempted. I want to say it’s by far one of the most ambitious things anyone in network television has ever attempted. It’s completely insane.

Supergirl airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT, The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT, Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m., and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

SOURCE: EW

‘Ghost in the Shell’: Featurette “Mamoru Oshii”

Mamoru Oshii, director of the classic anime Ghost in the Shell visited the set for the upcoming live-action adaptation to be impressed by Scarlett Johannson who looks incredible in the role of The Major. Oshii expressed his delight after his expectations were exceeded by Johannson’s effort. Rupert Sanders‘ visionary take looks as if he has gone above and beyond what anyone could have hoped for. The production design is incredibly imaginative and complemented by gorgeous lighting. The cinematography that we have seen so far looks to be spectacular, however. I would caution you to go into the film with lowered expectations considering Sanders’ track record is nothing special as of yet. But as of now, the style and tone of the original Ghost in the Shell looks to be intact.

Also, the first official trailer for the film is set to arrive this Sunday,November 13^th.

The film produced by Paramount Pictures stars Scarlett Johannson, Pilou Asbæk, Michael Pitt,Juliette Binoche, Kaori Momoi, Rila Fukushima, Chin Han, Danusia Samal, Lasarus Ratuere, Yutaka Izumihara, and Tuwanda Manyimo with a script penned by Jamie Moss, directed by Rupert Sanders.

Ghost in the Shell hits theaters March 31, 2017.

Based on the internationally-acclaimed sci-fi property, “GHOST IN THE SHELL” follows the Major, a special ops, one-of-a-kind human-cyborg hybrid, who leads the elite task force Section 9. Devoted to stopping the most dangerous criminals and extremists, Section 9 is faced with an enemy whose singular goal is to wipe out Hanka Robotics advancements in cyber technology.

First Look at King Kong in ‘Kong: Skull Island’

Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures have released the first image that gives us a clear look at King Kong in the upcoming Kong: Skull Island via Entertainment Weekly.

Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts offered some enlightenment on the thought process behind the iconic monsters design:

With Kong, there’s been obviously so many different versions of him in the past and ours needed to feel unique to our film. I had a mandate that I wanted a kid to be able to doodle him on the back of a piece of homework and for his shapes to be simple and hopefully iconic enough that, like, a third grader could draw that shape and you would know what it is. A big part of our Kong was I wanted to make something that gave the impression that he was a lonely God, he was a morose figure, lumbering around this island.

The film stars Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Mitchell, Corey Hawkins, Toby Kebbell, Tom Wilkinson, Terry Notary, John Goodman and John C. Reilly with a script penned by Max Borenstein, Derek Connolly, John Gatins, Dan Gilroy, directed by Jordan-Vogt Roberts.

Kong: Skull Island hits theaters March 10, 2017

Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ “Kong: Skull Island” reimagines the origin of the mythic Kong in a compelling, original adventure from director Jordan Vogt-Roberts. In the film, a diverse team of explorers is brought together to venture deep into an uncharted island in the Pacific—as beautiful as it is treacherous—unaware that they’re crossing into the domain of the mythic Kong.

SOURCE: EW

‘Arrow’: “So it Begins” Clip; Producers Preview

Tonight on Arrow, Prometheus finally becomes a part of the main plot as he goes on a killing spree to send Team Arrow a message. So far the characters inclusion has been underwhelming as it seems the producers are expecting us to be interested for the sheer fact that he exists. The ‘Who is Prometheus?’ mystery isn’t very compelling either so hopefully the answer will be revealed sooner rather than later but going off The CW’s obvious formula, I don’t expect the reveal to come until very late in the season like how Zoom’s identity was  revealed in The Flash.

Executive producer Wendy Mericle teases Prometheus as a villain unlike any we have seen before in that he comes at Oliver in a very psychological and personal way. To me it sounds exactly like Slade Wilson A.K.A. Deathstroke in season two. Check out the preview below and judge it for yourself.

Arrow airs tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.

SINS OF THE FATHER — When Prometheus ups his killing spree, Oliver (Stephen Amell) searches for connections between the victims. Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) and Curtis (Echo Kellum) discover the victims have a mysterious link to Oliver’s past and this new secret could upend his new team. Meanwhile, Thea (Willa Holland) has a heart-to-heart with Lance (Paul Blackthorne), and Felicity considers telling Malone (guest star Tyler Ritter) the truth about her work.

Johnny Depp Confirmed as Grindelwald for ‘Fantastic Beasts 2’

After news broke that Johnny Depp would be joining the sequel for the upcoming Harry Potter prequel spin-off, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, speculation on the internet began to run wild as to who Depp would join the wizarding world as. Rumors pointed to the character of Gellert Grindelwald, the former friend, and love of Albus Dumbledore who was rumored to play a large role in the franchise moving forward.

It turns out the rumors are true. Director David Yates confirmed Depp would indeed play Grindelwald when speaking with The Leaky Cauldron (h/t Collider) and explained why they felt it was important for Depp to fill the role.

The whole principal of casting the movie was go with the best actor. Go for the most inspired, interesting, right fit for that character. And as we approached Grindelwald we thought, ‘Who’s going to take this in an interesting direction?’ In this business, it’s a weird old business. You’re brilliant one week, people are saying odd things the next, you go up and down. But no one takes away your pure talent. Johnny Depp is a real artist. He’s created several characters who have really resonated in our popular culture. He’s a really brilliant, brilliant actor. We were excited about seeing what he would do with this guy, the character. He’s fearless; he’s imaginative; he’s ambitious. We thought he would do something fun and special. So we went for him, purely on that selfish basis. We don’t care if he’s famous or not famous. We just know he’s interesting.

Personally, the news of this casting doesn’t do much for me. Depp has been rather one note for the better part of the last decade, however. Depp’s earlier work does make him sound like a perfect fit for the personality of Grindelwald.

The character won’t appear until the second entry in the new Harry Potter prequel series which is currently set to cap at five films. Being that Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is set to kick off the new series, it would make sense for the film to include some sort of set up or at the very least an easter egg nodding to the characters inclusion in the following films so keep your eyes peeled when you go to see the film next weekend.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them hits theaters November 18, 2016.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opens in 1926 as Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Arriving in New York for a brief stopover, he might have come and gone without incident…were it not for a No-Maj (American for Muggle) named Jacob (Dan Fogler), a misplaced magical case, and the escape of some of Newt’s fantastic beasts, which could spell trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj worlds.

SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON