7 Jun – Get your wands ready because Warner Bros. is looking for young people to play five roles in the sequel to "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", one of which is the teenage incarnation of Albus Dumbledore. It was just announced on J.K. Rowling's official Harry Potter website, Pottermore that an open casting call has gone out for fresh faces to play teenage Newt Scamander, Leta Lestrange, Gellert Grindelwald, Albus Dumbledore, and a new character named Sebastian. Auditions are open to actors between 16 to 18 who are to portray Grindelwald and Dumbledore as teenagers, while actors between the ages of 13 and 16 will portray younger a Newt, Leta and Sebastian. No previous acting experience is necessary, but applicants need to be eligible to work in the UK, meaning the must be a UK, Irish or EU passport holder. So for those of you residing in Southeast Asia but were born in the territories mentioned above or have the related passport, here's your chance to appear in the Potter universe. They must also be available for filming between August and November 2017, with their parents' or guardian's permission for those who are under 18. Closing date for applications is 20 June 2017 and while every applicant will be considered, only those who pass the initial consideration will be contacted within 14 days of their original submission. Friendly reminder: Evanna Lynch was once just one in 15000 hopefuls during an open casting in 2006 before she was cast as Luna Lovegood in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix".
In the "Harry Potter" series, it was revealed that Grindelwald and Dumbledore were close friends before they had a falling out and became each other's greatest rivals. Maybe the open casting can be taken as a sign that we may finally get to the fated duel on the beach and the fated death of Ariana Dumbledore. We may even get to see what their relationship was like before they parted ways and how they came about to become so obsessed with the Deathly Hallows. We definitely want to see what Dumbledore was like while he was a typical teenage wizard with a crush on his best friend, if not in the sequel then in the other three movies that will come after. Newt Scamander's past also remains enigmatic, so maybe we'll finally get to see how the young magizoologist was expelled from Hogwarts and what his 'close friendship' with the mysterious Leta was like. The casting of a young Leta suggests that she might play a bigger role in the sequel. In "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", Newt Scamander was portrayed by Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne, Leta Lestrange was played by Zoe Kravitz and Gellert Grindelwald was played by Johnny Depp. It was recently announced that Jude Law was cast as the adult Albus Dumbledore for the sequel. Richard Harris portrayed Dumbledore in the first two "Harry Potter" films and Michael Gambon played the character for the remaining movies after Harris' death. "Fantastic Beasts" was set in 1920s New York, decades before Voldemort's rise in power and Harry Potter's birth. The sequel is scheduled to be released on 16 November 2018 in the UK and filming begins this summer. You can check out Pottermore for more information on how to apply for auditions. Good luck!