The new Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald trailer is here and boy is it a doozy.
“When you watch the trailer, don’t talk until the end,” J.K. Rowling warned a group of Harry Potter fans yesterday who got a sneak peek at the new trailer. “There’s a name that you don’t want to miss. You’ll know what I’m talking about,” she promised.
And we did.
When the name “Nagini” is uttered at the tk mark as Claudia Kim’s character, Natalie, transforms into a snake in front of our eyes, the entire room of fans gasped audibly, because this is indeed a huge reveal—and one that is probably stupefying to Potter fans.
“Kim is none other than Nagini, a circus performer and contortionist who eventually becomes Lord Voldemort’s trust serpent and Horcrux,” the Fantastic Beasts Instagram account explains.
MERLIN’S PANTS!
Kim herself explained that the secret was so big, she didn’t even refer to herself as Nagini during table reads—instead, using the name Natalie, which we don’t officially know yet, but must be the contortionist’s name pre-snake transformation. (Also, how did that whole thing go down?!)
During the trailer preview, which we watched alongside Kim, as well as her fellow cast mates Ezra Miller, Dan Fogel, and Callum Turner, there were a lot of reactions from fans as well the Fantastic Beast-ers, some of whom were watching it for the first time.
“Full body chills!” Ezra Miller shouted as Johnny Depp’s Grindewald hangs out of the side of a flying carriage. “Lion bumps,” he pronounced, showing fans the goosebumps on his arm. “Play it again!” He called as soon as the trailer ended—and the room became dark again as they played the trailer another time.
Some more revelations from the cast (and spoilers that are not in the trailer ahead!): Callum Turner, who plays Newt’s very handsome (that’s not a spoiler, look at his face) brother revealed Theseus Scamander is an auror, was a Hufflepuff, and is—and here’s the !!!—engaged to Zoe Kravitz’s character, Leda Lestrange...you know, the woman in the photo Newt appeared to be pining for in the first Fantastic Beasts movie.
Drama!
