Harry Potter Characters Who Need To Appear In Fantastic Beasts

The latest trailer for J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has Harry Potter fans all atwitter thanks to the voice-over casually name-dropping one Albus Dumbledore. That got us thinking: even though Fantastic Beasts takes place way back in 1926, there are actually a number of characters from the Harry Potter series who were already on the scene by then. Muggles and wizards will want to see these famous faces from Harry Potter lore appear in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Sure, his name is mentioned in the voice-over, but there's no real indication that Dumbledore is actually going to be in the film. After all, it's set in New York in 1926. By this time, Dumbledore would have already started working at Hogwarts. Still, that's nothing a little Floo Powder and a trip abroad couldn't fix. Getting to see a younger Dumbledore—or Dumbledore alive again at any age, really—would be a dream come true.

Speaking of characters who we want to see alive again, how great would it be to get an appearance by the bravest house-elf of all time, Dobby? It shouldn't be a problem, since house-elves have a life expectancy upwards of 200 years. This is a movie about fantastic creatures, after all. Of course, that means we'd have to see those treacherous Malfoys as well, but it's a small price to pay to see Dobby again.

This is a bit of a stretch, but it's possible we could get an appearance by Tom Malvolo Riddle himself, aka He Who Must Not Be Named—you know, Voldemort. There's a little bit of a debate whether he was born on New Year's Eve in 1925 or 1926. Nevertheless, it's at least theoretically feasible that we could get a glimpse of the baby who would grow up to be the world's most dangerous noseless wizard. More likely? Appearances by his parents, Merope Gaunt and Tom Riddle Sr., which could help tie everything together.

Nicolas Flamel wasn't exactly a major character in the original Harry Potter series, but he played such a key role in the formation of Rowling's universe that it's hard not to hope for a cameo. Name doesn't ring a bell? He's best known as the wizard and alchemist who created the Philosopher's Stone, giving him eternal life. Yes, that guy! Given that he's been around since the 14th century, there's every possibility we might see him in the Roaring Twenties.

Another minor but important character who would be interesting to meet is Bathilda Bagshot. In the Harry Potter series, she was the old lady murdered by Voldemort and then used as a human shell by his giant snake, Nagini (ew). Before that, she was a renowned magical historian. Bagshot's book A History of Magic is a standard text at Hogwarts, as is Newt Scamander's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It would be cool to see the two authors meet up.

In the real world, the 1920s was a deceptively dangerous time. While America jitterbugged itself into the Jazz Age, dark forces were gathering in Europe, as Hitler quietly gathered and consolidated power. In the wizarding world, the same thing was happening as the dark magician Grindelwald acquired the Elder Wand and began amassing followers in his quest to conquer the world, until he was inevitably defeated by Dumbledore. Could that have something to do with the secretive plot of Fantastic Beasts?

Finally, there's good old Mr. Ollivander, everyone's favorite wand maker. Like all good wizards, Newt Scamander has a wand, so it's safe to assume he probably got it at Ollivander's. Garrick Ollivander's age is a little unclear, but sources suggest he was born no later than 1919. He was raised in the ongoing family business, as Ollivander's Wand Shop is centuries old. We'd certainly like to revisit Ollivander's—or its American counterpart at least.