Director addresses Dumbledore’s sexuality in ‘Fantastic Beasts 2’

Author JK Rowling revealed in 2007 that the character is gay.

1st February 2018

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is an upcoming fantasy drama film produced by Heyday Films and distributed by Warner Bros. This photograph is for editorial use only and is the copyright of the film company and/or the photographer assigned by

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald director David Yates has revealed that the film will not deal with the sexuality of beloved character Albus Dumbledore.

It’s been more than 10 years since Harry Potter author JK Rowling revealed that Dumbledore is homosexual and, as a young man, had a love affair with wizarding rival Gellert Grindelwald. It is this period of Dumbledore’s life that Yates’ film, for which Rowling wrote the screenplay and which is a sequel to the 2016 smash Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Despite this, Yates has told Entertainment Weekly that the film does “not explicitly” discuss Dumbledore’s sexuality.

“I think all the fans are aware of that [aspect of his life],” he said. “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.”

Yates added: “He’s a maverick and a rebel and he’s an inspiring teacher at Hogwarts. He’s witty and has a bit of edge. He’s not this elder statesman. He’s a really kinetic guy. And opposite Johnny Depp as Grindelwald, they make an incredible pairing.”

This comes amid controversy over Johnny Depp’s casting in the role of Grindelwald. Some fans, upset that Depp has been accused of assaulting his ex-wife Amber Heard, threatened to boycott the movie. Last month, Entertainment Weekly put the issue to Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, who replied:

“I can see why people are frustrated with the response that they were given from that,” he said. “I’m not saying anything that anybody hasn’t already said — and this is a weird analogy to draw — [but] in the NFL, there are lots of players arrested for smoking weed and there is other people’s behaviour that goes way beyond that and it’s tolerated because they’re very famous players.

“I suppose the thing I was struck by was, we did have a guy who was reprimanded for weed on the [original Potter] film, essentially, so obviously what Johnny has been accused of is much greater than that.”