“SpeakBeasty” Episode 150: “A Ragtag Army of Friendship”

It’s been six months since SpeakBeasty host Lizzie volunteered as tribute to be thoroughly spoiled for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. She spoke with a source who had seen the film in test screenings and took extensive notes from that conversation, as well as keeping track of what her fellow hosts got right or wrong in the months leading up to the film’s worldwide release.

On this episode of SpeakBeasty, we dive into Lizzie’s original notes about that early screening, and the hosts discuss how we did with our theorizing about the film. Sometimes, we were right on the money. In fact, we’re quite proud of the fact that we deduced much of the qilin plotline as soon as we researched the folklore of the mythical beast. We were able to guess how it would play a role in the election, right down to Grindelwald wanting to use it to trick the wizarding world into thinking he was the right choice. However, we definitely didn’t foresee the scarring start of the film.

Then, there were moments when we were so off-base we weren’t even in left field, more like in the parking lot stuck in stadium traffic. One of those such failures was in our episode about Aberforth. We not only failed to pinpoint him as the now seemingly obvious solution to Credence’s parentage but also went as far as to say we didn’t think he was all that important to the plot of the films. Yikes. We’re sorry, Abe!

This week’s podcast question is “Did you make any predictions that came true in Secrets of Dumbledore?” Send us your thoughts and theories at SpeakBeasty@gmail.com, or reach out to us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!

You can find our show on Patreon, where supporters are treated to bonus content, exclusive merch, and early episode releases, among other perks.