“Crimes of Grindelwald” Actress Reveals New Details About Her Role

Over the past year, we’ve seen information about the new cast of characters set to appear in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald being slowly released to the public in various bits and pieces. Each of these clues tends to reveal just enough to spark fan discussions about theories and speculations without truly giving anything away.

A few of the earliest new characters to be revealed, like Leta Lestrange, Albus Dumbledore, and Nicolas Flamel, were already recognizable due to previous appearances in either the Harry Potter series or Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. These roles were the easiest to speculate about since a lot of information about their characters is already well known to fans.

Some of the other names had never been seen before, but a brief description of the roles of the characters lent a few hints about the film’s plot, such as bounty hunter Grimmson, wizarding circus owner Skender, and a Maledictus, one of the circus’s main attractions.

There were also a few characters revealed with only a name, including Yusuf Kama, Spielman, Arnold Guzman, and Bunty, which left basically nothing to go on as far as theories about their roles in the film. Recently, however, a new piece of the puzzle was put in place when Victoria Yeates, who plays Bunty, revealed during an interview with the Daily Mail that her character holds the role of Newt Scamander’s assistant.

Bunty went to Hogwarts, she’s Newt’s assistant and she’s a lovely, sweet character. That is probably as far as I can go – everything is top secret. I’m so sorry I can’t reveal more.

Yeates admits that her part is fairly small, but she does have a few bigger moments in the film. She was unable to say anything else about the specifics of Bunty’s role since her contract specifically forbids it. However, she had previously discussed more information about the general concept of the films during an interview with Radio Times.

In these films you’re really getting to see how Dumbledore becomes Dumbledore. What we go through, the beasts within us, what we have to overcome to become the people that we want to become.h

Yeates was offered an audition for the role of Bunty after producers saw her on BBC One’s Call the Midwife, a show set in the East End of London during the late 1950s and early 1960s. She plays progressive nun Sister Winifred in a story that follows the lives of nurses, midwives, and nuns who visit expecting mothers.

After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2006, Yeates had a few smaller roles, but Call the Midwife was her most notable acting work before being cast in Crimes of Grindelwald. She was starstruck being cast alongside Jude Law and Johnny Depp, two idols from her youth, and she found that she really admired Eddie Redmayne’s work ethic and ideas after spending so much time with him on set. Being a Potter fan from the beginning, Yeates was also thrilled for the opportunity to work directly with J.K. Rowling.

She is everything you would expect. She’s down to earth, she’s funny, she’s intelligent, she’s open, warm, and again I was nervous about meeting her… She’s on set a lot; she’s just a really normal, approachable person. And incredibly intelligent. A role model for me, really. I hope I could be a bit of what she is.

With eight months still to go before Crimes of Grindelwald‘s official release date, it’s likely a few more little hints about the plot and characters will be revealed to us before the film hits theaters. Be sure to keep checking back for new details as they’re announced!