The “Secrets of Dumbledore” Cast Discuss Terrifying Beasts and What They Think the Nifflers Are Really Up To

If there’s one thing the cast of Fantastic Beasts can agree on, it’s that none of them would want to be caught in the company of a ferocious manticore. Facing this scary beast can be just as daunting as trying to pronounce some of the beasts’ names correctly. Being part of the Fantastic Beasts cast can be terrifying, thrilling, and definitely mentally challenging, but the actors still dream about adopting some creatures of their own.

In a recent interview with CinemaBlend, Eddie Redmayne (Newt Scamander), Dan Fogler (Jacob Kowalski), Jude Law (Albus Dumbledore), Mads Mikkelsen (Gellert Grindelwald), Alison Sudol (Queenie Goldstein), and Jessica Williams (Professor Eulalie “Lally” Hicks) discussed their favorite beasts, the ones they fear the most, and why Nifflers might not be as innocent as they seem.

Living with Pickett the Bowtruckle could mean the end of your plant-based diet.

Pickett the Bowtruckle might give people the evil eye when they enjoy a salad, as Dan Fogler pointed out, but most of the cast members, especially Jude Law, would love to have the tree-loving creature as a companion. And if you’re the kind of person who looks for excuses not to eat salads, Pickett is your guy when it comes to easing the guilt when you order takeout one too many times.

Nifflers could get you in trouble with the law.

Jessica Williams seems to be braver than the rest – while manticores surely are terrifying, she seems to fear being prosecuted for theft more than facing off against a beast known to be undefeatable. The creature she’d like to steer clear of is the Niffler. We’re all gasping in shock over here. She was pretty clear on just how much she does not want to deal with a Niffler’s antics, saying that she’d rather face a “murderous creature” than a Niffler. She might change her mind once she actually has to face a manticore – just saying.

Nifflers might also secretly be taking over the world.

Luckily, the Niffler is still very much loved by Mads Mikkelsen, who says he would like to have a Niffler because the mischievous creature“just comes in handy.” We wonder what exactly it is Mikkelsen wants the Niffler to do for him. If Grindelwald got hold of one, the wizarding world would probably be in trouble. Does Mikkelsen know something we don’t? Alison Sudol isn’t too trusting of Nifflers because they cannot be controlled, while Dan Fogler seems to think these little critters are a bit shady. He’s of the opinion that it’s one of the most dangerous creatures because there’s no telling where its marsupial pouch goes. Fogler seems to think it could possibly lead to a dark dimension where the Niffler stores all its stolen goods. He also suspects that Nifflers probably “rule the world.” Somebody really needs to keep this mischievous, seemingly harmless creature away from Grindelwald.

Pronouncing the names of some beasts is possibly harder than defeating a manticore.

Taking care of some of the fantastic beasts we see in the film is surely a challenge, and so is pronouncing some of their names. We’d be lying if we said we weren’t scratching our heads from time to time while reading the screenplay for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Eddie Redmayne confessed that pronouncing some of the beasts’ names has proven to be a bit of a challenge for the cast throughout the franchise. He admitted that they had to redo some of the dialogue in postproduction to ensure the beasts’ names were pronounced correctly. There’s one magical creature, however, that still leaves Redmayne guessing: the zouwu.

I succeeded in, I think, mispronouncing it, but then it transpired there were several interpretations of how to pronounce it. And so I’m not sure I ever quite got it right.

We’re sure Hermione has a few ideas on how to pronounce it correctly, and we’ll likely receive correspondence from her any day now, but let’s assume for now that Redmayne’s pronunciation in the film is correct.