Fantastic Beasts 3 title and plot finally revealed, release date moved up

The third installment in J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts film franchise will be called ‘The Secrets of Dumbledore.’

Warner Bros. revealed the title Wednesday morning via a blog post on Wizarding World Digital.

Related: Fantastic Beasts 3 will focus more on Dumbledore. Is it enough to help the films?

In addition to the title, we also have a plot and a finalized release date, which comes after numerous setbacks following the lackluster release of ‘The Crimes of Grindelwald.’ The film will be released on April 15, 2022 — which moves the release date into the spring rather than giving it a summer release.

“The film was expected to be released in July of next year, but today we can exclusively reveal fans will be able to enjoy the third film a few months earlier than planned!” Wizarding World said in its post.

Here’s what we know about the film’s plot, via Wizarding World:

Professor Albus Dumbledore knows the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald is moving to seize control of the wizarding world. Unable to stop him alone, he entrusts Magizoologist Newt Scamander to lead an intrepid team of wizards, witches and one brave Muggle baker on a dangerous mission, where they encounter old and new beasts and clash with Grindelwald’s growing legion of followers. But with the stakes so high, how long can Dumbledore remain on the sidelines?

The road leading up to this film has been rocky. The second Fantastic Beasts movie performed terribly with critics and controversy rocked the production when Mads Mikkelsen replaced Johnny Depp in the role of Grindelwald. Rowling also lost many fans after her comments about sexual identity, which were condemned as transphobic by many in the Harry Potter fandom as well as numerous LGBTQ+ advocates.