Are Seven Wizarding Schools Represented in the “Fantastic Beasts” 2 Cast List?
We know the Fantastic Beasts sequel will take us to France, London, and New York, but are there hints in the casting announcements that show where else in the world future films may be headed? Looking at the confirmed cast for the upcoming film, we may be seeing characters who attended six of the known wizarding schools around the world. The list of schools was released via Pottermore, and as with the information about Ilvermorny, I don’t think that list was released with no plans to reference those schools in the future. While we may not actually see each of those schools, it stands to reason that meeting characters who were educated at these institutions might mean making our way around the map to locations near those schools.
Ilvermorny
We know that Queenie and Tina will both be back for Fantastic Beasts 2. The sister duo both attended Ilvermorny and gave us that lovely rendition of the theme song, which was sadly cut from the final version of Fantastic Beasts.
Hogwarts
There are many characters who attended Hogwarts, including Dumbledore, Newt, and Leta Lestrange. A young Newt and Leta have been cast, and we know will be seeing Hogwarts in some flashbacks.
Beauxbatons
It is confirmed that we are heading to France for the next film in the franchise, so it only makes sense that a few Beauxbatons alumni will make appearances. Nicholas Flamel was French and likely attended the academy, but also on the list of newly added characters is Rosier. Rosier is obviously a familiar name to Potter fans, but it’s also of French origin.
Durmstrang
With Grindelwald having gone to Durmstrang, it seems reasonable to assume we might be heading up north or at least meeting a few characters from that area of the world. In recent casting news, actor Wolf Roth was brought on to the film to play a character called Spielman. Roth’s German heritage places him close to the school that’s thought to be located in either Sweden or Norway.
Castelobruxo
This is where things start to get a little more complicated. On the recently released cast list for the second film is a character named Guzman. A little research behind the name reveals the surname derives from the village of Guzman in the Spanish region of Burgos. Spain borders Portugal, the country that colonized Brazil in the 16th century. Castelobruxo is located in Brazil. Is it possible that Guzman’s ancestors found their way over from Spain or Portugal to Brazil?
Uagadou
Uagadou is the African magic school. Although we’re not given a character name for her, we know that Jessica Williams has been cast for the film. Williams is of Cameroonian descent, and J.K. Rowling’s congratulatory tweet may give us a bit more of a clue. Rowling tweeted, “There’s no purple heron emoji, so (owl emoji).” Purple herons breed in Africa.
Mahoutokoro
This one I’m not completely convinced of, but it may be worth a mention. Danish-Japanese actor David Sakurai has been cast as a character named Krall. Mahoutokoro is based in Japan, where the actor’s father is from and where Sakurai trained in acting. While it’s interesting to note that connection, I’m not sure that Sakurai’s character will be from Japan at all. First of all, the character’s name is Krall, a German last name. On top of that, it looks like Sakurai has lived most of his life in Denmark, not Japan, but he is an actor, so those factors may not matter at all!
So there you have it. It would make sense for the films to progress around the world, both following Grindelwald’s path of destruction and finding a few different breeds of magical creatures along the way. Hitting a few of these locations and developing merchandise for them would also be an added bonus to Warner Bros.’ pocketbook. Let’s be honest; when Americans found out we were finally getting Ilvermorny apparel, we were pretty quick to open our wallets.
Do you have any thoughts about where we might be headed in the next four Fantastic Beasts films? Let us know in the comments!
