Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald Trailer Brings Magic To San Diego Comic-Con

There was something in the air at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday. No, not coastal California humidity or thousands of convention-goers' collective excitement-twinged aroma, but something much sweeter: magic. 

Warner Bros. unveiled a brand-new trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald during its panel in Hall H, welcoming fans back into the wonderful, wizarding world author J.K. Rowling built in her Harry Potter novel series. 

Featuring fresh and fittingly fantastic peeks at Jude Law's young Albus Dumbledore strolling about Hogwarts grounds and Joshua Shea's little Newt Scamander taking a Defense Against the Dark Arts class under Dumbledore's tutelage and revealing that his biggest fear is "having to work in an office," the new Crimes of Grindelwald footage begins on a bright and cheery note. 

Things turn dark, as they always seem to do in the expansive Harry Potter universe, when the trailer pans to Johnny Depp's Gellert Grindelwald, the white-haired, weird-eyed wizard who calls for other magic-makers to come out of hiding and immerse themselves in the Muggle world — and whom the present-day Newt (Eddie Redmayne) plans to track down. 

Dumbledore would assist the freckle-faced Magizoologist in his endeavors, but, alas, he can't. The legendary sorcerer tells Newt, "I can't move against Grindelwald. It has to be you."  

And speaking of sorcerers, this new Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald trailer offers a surprise look at Nicolas Flamel, an alchemist and close friend of Dumbledore's who was the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone seen in the first Harry Potter book, The Sorcerer's Stone.

The footage, which is sprinkled with incredible special effects and also teases a tense battle between Grindelwald and Newt, is definitely worth drooling over, but for some watchers, there's a sour reminder mixed in with all the fun: Johnny Depp is involved in a major way. 

When it was confirmed that Depp would reprise his Fantastic Beasts role and serve as the central baddie in the sequel, fans were outraged, calling for Warner Bros. and director David Yates to fire him and select someone else to portray Grindelwald on the basis of Depp's ex-wife Amber Heard's allegations that he assaulted her. 

Hopefully, for the sake of those fans, the forthcoming sequel will go against its title and focus more on the good deeds Redmayne's Newt and Law's Dumbledore carry out than it does on the crimes Depp's Grindelwald commits.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald will arrive in theaters on November 16.