The Secrets of Dumbledore
FOREWORD
Diving back into J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World with The Secrets of Dumbledore was both exciting creatively and challenging logistically, given that production began at the same time as the global pandemic, and we based ourselves for much of it working out of Leavesden Studios in Hertfordshire, England. It was here that Stuart Craig and his exceptional art department team, thwarted by various travel restrictions because of COVID-19, created magical versions of Berlin, Bhutan, and China across the back lot. We also rebuilt some of the most memorable sets from earlier Wizarding World stories and films, including the Hog’s Head, the Room of Requirement, and Hogwarts itself.
Jo and Steve’s screenplay moves deftly between the old and new while balancing a timely political story with both charm and emotion. At the heart of the tale, one of Jo’s most enduring and endearing characters, Albus Dumbledore, deals with present dangers and past regrets, while Newt Scamander leads a mission to prevent Grindelwald’s rise to power.
Over many months, as the world fell into a strange hibernation, we worked to translate Jo and Steve’s words to the screen.
In The Secrets of Dumbledore, dangerous times may favor dangerous men, but the tenacity and the pluck of Dumbledore, Newt, and the gang they assemble to take on the most lethal wizard in over a century holds out the promise that in the end, light and love may yet prevail, however challenging the odds.
— DAVID YATES
March 21, 2022
1 INT. TRAIN CAR—DAY
MEN and WOMEN sit silently in the flickering light. CAMERA GLIDES slowly, reveals a MAN standing, strap in hand, gently swaying with the train’s movements. His face is hidden to us, but his HAT, set at a mildly rakish angle, is somehow familiar.
2 EXT. STATION—MOMENTS LATER—DAY
The train comes to a halt. The doors open. The men and women stream out, including the man in the hat.
3 EXT. PICCADILLY CIRCUS—MOMENTS LATER—DAY
The man with the hat emerges into the light and separates from his fellow passengers. He glances about briefly, then continues on.
4 INT. CAFÉ—DAY
Busy. Loud. As a WAITRESS with a DARK BOB crosses into view, we go with her, wending as she wends, gracefully gliding to a table near the back, where she sets a cup of something hot in front of the man with the hat: DUMBLEDORE.
ALBUS DUMBLEDORE COSTUME SKETCH
PRELIMINARY GRAPHIC FOR ALBUS DUMBLEDORE CASE FILE, WITH SPACE LEFT FOR MOVING PHOTOGRAPH
DUMBLEDORE
Thank you.
WAITRESS
Would you like something else?
DUMBLEDORE
No. Not just yet—I’m waiting.
(a frown)
I’m expecting someone.
The waitress nods and turns away. Dumbledore watches her go, then stirs a lump of sugar into his tea, leans his head back, and closes his eyes. We HOLD on him like this, face in repose, for a long time until . . . a LIGHT falls over Dumbledore’s face.
Dumbledore opens his eyes, considers the man standing beside his table: GRINDELWALD.
GRINDELWALD
Would this be one of your regular haunts?
DUMBLEDORE
I don’t have any regular haunts.
For a moment, Grindelwald studies him, then sits in the seat opposite.
GRINDELWALD
Let me see it.
Dumbledore stares at him, then slowly brings a hand into view and reveals: the BLOOD TROTH. As he cradles it, its chain slowly slithers between Dumbledore’s fingers, as if alive.
GRINDELWALD (CONT’D)
Sometimes I imagine I still feel it around my neck, I carried it for so many years. How does it feel around yours?
DUMBLEDORE
We can free each other of it.
Grindelwald ignores this, glancing about the room.
GRINDELWALD
Love to chatter, don’t they, our Muggle friends. Though one must admit: They make a good cup of tea.
DUMBLEDORE
What you’re doing is madness—
GRINDELWALD
It’s what we said we’d do.
DUMBLEDORE
I was young. I was—
GRINDELWALD
—committed. To me. To us.
DUMBLEDORE
No. I went along because—
GRINDELWALD
Because?
DUMBLEDORE
Because I was in love with you.
They stare into each other’s eyes, then Dumbledore looks away again.
GRINDELWALD
Yes. But that’s not why you went along. It was you who said we could reshape the world, that it was our birthright.
Grindelwald settles back, eyes narrow. INHALES.
GRINDELWALD (CONT’D)
Can you smell it? The stench? Do you really intend to turn your back on your own kind for these animals?
Dumbledore’s eyes shift, meet Grindelwald’s steely gaze.
GRINDELWALD (CONT’D)
With or without you, I will burn down their world, Albus. There’s nothing you can do to stop me. Enjoy your cup of tea.
As Grindelwald exits, a LOW RUMBLE begins. Dumbledore stares down at his teacup, watches it faintly TREMBLE on the hard surface of the table. As the liquid within QUIVERS, he seems to get lost in it.
We go to flames, holding for some time, until we are in . . .
5 INT. DUMBLEDORE’S ROOM—HOGWARTS—MORNING
We find Dumbledore standing at his window, eyes closed. As we slowly pull focus to him, his eyes open, and we are back in the present.
He holds the blood troth, the chain coiled around his wrist.
When they were teenagers, Dumbledore and Grindelwald came up with this plan for taking control of the wizarding world and beyond, a plan that Grindelwald is now trying to realize. But Dumbledore is a changed man. He understands the mistakes he has made and is trying as best he can to right them. I think that’s very potent: We’ve all made mistakes in our lives, and no matter who we are, we have to acknowledge those mistakes, learn from them, and move on.
— DAVID HEYMAN
(Producer)
6 EXT. LAKE—TIANZI MOUNTAINS—SAME TIME—NIGHT
A vast, beautiful landscape. Under a low moon, limestone pillars rise majestically out of the water in the shadow of a MOUNTAIN—the Angel Eye.
NEWT paddles across the lake.
7 EXT. TIANZI MOUNTAINS—MOMENTS LATER—NIGHT
Feet delicately step ashore, leaving the bobbing boat behind, and we reveal NEWT SCAMANDER.
Lakes and tributaries fall away behind as he starts an ascent through the bamboo forest.
The distant cry of an animal echoes evocatively across the landscape. Newt listens for a moment. PICKETT, atop Newt’s shoulder, listens too.
NEWT
(whispers)
She’s ready.
NEWT SCAMANDER COSTUME SKETCHES
We finally get to see Newt where he’s at his best and happiest, which is out in the wild tracking creatures. And in this case it’s a very beautiful and extraordinary creature called a Qilin that has this mythical status in the wizarding world. One of the things I’ve always loved about Newt is that there’s this kind of anomaly between his physicality and slight social awkwardness mixed with his dexterity and facility in nature. So it was thrilling when I first saw the script and this almost Indiana Jones–like moment at the beginning of the movie because it’s Newt at his most comfortable.
— EDDIE REDMAYNE
(Newt Scamander)
8 EXT. HOLLOW—TIANZI MOUNTAINS—MOMENTS LATER—NIGHT
Newt moves rapidly but carefully toward the mouth of a great cathedral-like cave. As he draws close, something stirs inside, half hidden in shadow.
9 EXT. HOLLOW—TIANZI MOUNTAINS—MOMENTS LATER—NIGHT
Newt tenderly reaches out to stroke the back of the animal as she rolls gently, and we see she’s a QILIN: part dragon, part horse, powerful but with a sweetness to her. She’s breathing fast, her skin flecking and twitching, insects and bits of jungle and dust caked into her hide.
She lets out another cry.
A GOLDEN LIGHT begins to suffuse the ground beneath her. Newt smiles, entranced. Slowly, slithering out from beneath the mother, a BABY QILIN appears, beautiful and fragile, its eyes blinking blindly. SNIFFING curiously, it softly BLEATS, its tiny body pulsing with GOLDEN LIGHT, briefly illuminating Newt’s and Pickett’s faces as they peer down at it.
Newt steps back, watches as the mother Qilin licks the baby clean as it shivers and stumbles around.
BABY QILIN SKETCH
NEWT
(off Pickett’s look)
Beautiful.
(beat)
Right, you two. Now the tricky bit.
Newt reaches down for his case, opening it gently. We see a photo of TINA pinned inside the lid.
Through the deep undergrowth figures approach, wands being drawn . . .
. . . ACOLYTES ROSIER and CARROW approaching, eyes hungrily on the baby Qilin.
With a WHOOSH Rosier and Carrow raise their wands, firing SPELLS, flaying the mother Qilin’s hide. She sways drunkenly, BELLOWING into the night, and then—her legs betraying her—collapses.
IN THE ONSLAUGHT:
Newt sends a defensive spell back and it blooms into a shield, but it’s too late.
Glancing back to see a DARK FIGURE emerge between the other Acolytes: CREDENCE, looking older, more assured, as he strikes through Newt’s shield with his wand.
Newt points his wand at his case.
NEWT (CONT’D)
Accio!
The case flies across into his hand.
Credence breaks through the shield as Newt pitches himself over the rim of the hollow, dropping down a treacherous slope as he jumps, stumbles, and trips through the undergrowth.
A THWACK of a spell from behind, splintering BAMBOO around him, SENDS his case tumbling from his hands.
Up ahead we see the baby Qilin standing in the undergrowth, frightened and fragile.
Newt picks up the pace, LOOKS ACROSS TO SEE . . .
. . . legs pop out of the CASE as it bumps and bounces downhill, steering it back toward him.
Carrow jets toward Newt, hands outstretched for the baby Qilin. Newt counters, sending her flying backward.
THWACK! Another SPELL whistles over Newt’s head just as he ducks and sweeps his arm around the baby Qilin, scooping her up, and in that moment another incoming spell HITS HIM and sends him flying off HIGH GROUND AND DOWN.
FROM BENEATH, Newt’s body plunges deep into swirling water.
On the foaming surface, Pickett’s head pops up, swimming parallel to the shore, WORRIED at the sight of Newt’s unconscious body drifting to a stop on the opposite shoreline.
WIDE . . .
. . . to reveal that we are at the base of a series of beautiful, cascading waterfalls that spill down from the Angel Eye.
For a moment, Newt lies in a dreamlike state, blinking up into the sky. Finally, he raises his head.
NEWT’S POV
. . . ZABINI holds a sack while Rosier reaches over and collects the baby Qilin, shoving it roughly into the sack. WHOOSH! In an instant, they are gone.
Newt prizes himself up.
We CUT TO:
. . . Newt stumbling back toward the hollow, one arm wrapped about his case. He reaches the crest of the hollow. The mother Qilin lies in shadow, unmoving. Newt collapses against the mother Qilin’s motionless body. His chest heaves painfully.
NEWT (CONT’D)
I’m so sorry.
Newt squints upward, considering the empty sky. His eyelids grow heavy . . . sleep beckoning . . . his chest rising more steadily . . . when:
His face BLOOMS SOFTLY with light.
His eyes flutter open. The earth beneath him is BLOOMING.
Turning, he studies the mother Qilin, watching as the flesh surrounding her eye TWITCHES and . . .
. . . a SOFT, MURMURING BLEAT breaks the silence. As the LIGHT at his back BLOOMS BRIGHTER, Newt turns, watching as . . .
. . . a SECOND BABY QILIN wriggles into view. As it slips free, it peers around uncertainly, then meets Newt’s eyes. Newt smiles before the Qilin wriggles into his arms. He turns back to the mother . . . then stops.
NEWT (CONT’D)
Twins. You’ve had twins . . .
As he watches, a TEAR trickles from her eye, her PUPIL DILATING. Newt’s face falls. He rolls back against the mother’s lifeless body.
Slowly, Pickett pokes his head out of Newt’s pocket, staring at the baby Qilin with wonder.
Newt nods to the case and Pickett hops to, pausing over one of the latches, looking back for guidance.
Still clasping the Qilin, Newt unfastens one latch while Pickett flips open the other.
TEDDY pops his head out, seeing Newt and then looking across at the baby Qilin.
From deep below, in the belly of the case, we follow the leggy limbs of a WYVERN as it climbs upward toward the sky, past the picture of TINA GOLDSTEIN stuck to the inside of the case lid, and then Teddy before emerging UP AND OUT of the case into the Angel Eye itself.
The Wyvern’s body starts to expand magically and beautifully before us. With his last bit of strength, Newt gathers the Qilin close, pulling it within the folds of his coat. Shivering, it bleats softly in his arms.
The tail of the Wyvern wraps around Newt, and he and the baby Qilin are lifted gently into the air.
The Wyvern ascends high into the sky, its great majestic wings expanding gracefully as it carries Newt and the baby Qilin over the expansive waterfalls and toward the horizon, which glimmers faintly with the day’s first light.
The TITLE APPEARS:
THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE
Compared to Harry Potter or many other heroes from the wizarding world, Newt isn’t written as the greatest or most powerful wizard, but he has his own unique facility with magic. So in this fight, rather than just outright dueling spells, Newt uses more organic things, sending leaves into whirlwinds or shields, for example. His magic is not, perhaps, the most impressive, but it feels specific to who he is as a character.
— EDDIE REDMAYNE
(Newt Scamander)
10 EXT. CASTLE ENTRANCE/COURTYARD—NURMENGARD—MORNING
We DRIFT, watching Grindelwald leave the castle as the Acolytes Apparate into the far end of the courtyard.
Credence separates from the others.
Grindelwald’s eyes are fixed on the sack in Credence’s hand. Rosier hovers—silent, watchful. Grindelwald steps forward.
GRINDELWALD
Leave us.
The Acolytes withdraw wordlessly. One or two glance back, aware that Credence is now the favorite. Alone with Credence now, Grindelwald nods to the sack.
GRINDELWALD (CONT’D)
Show me.
Grindelwald takes the Qilin and peers deeply into its damp eyes. PHLEGM drizzles from its quivering nose.
CREDENCE
The others. They said it’s special.
GRINDELWALD
Oh, it’s beyond special. See, see its eyes? Those eyes see everything. When a Qilin is born, a righteous leader will rise, to change our world forever. Her birth brings change, Credence, to everything.
Credence eyes the Qilin quizzically.
GRINDELWALD (CONT’D)
You did well.
Grindelwald places his hand on Credence’s cheek. Credence covers Grindelwald’s hand with his own, tentatively, as if unfamiliar with such intimate touch.
GRINDELWALD (CONT’D)
Go. Rest.
NURMENGARD CASTLE LOCATION RENDERING
11 INT. DRAWING ROOM—SAME TIME—MORNING
QUEENIE watches Credence disappear from view, then returns her attention to Grindelwald, who gently lowers the Qilin to the flagstones, eyeing it with evident fascination.
Reaching out, he gently lifts it to its feet, steadying it, then positions himself in front of it. For a moment, nothing. Then, slowly, the Qilin’s head lifts, its weary gaze meeting Grindelwald’s expectant one. Then . . .
. . . it turns away. Grindelwald’s face hardens. He picks up the Qilin and cradles it in his arms. He reaches into his pocket, something GLIMMERING briefly as he withdraws his hand. Grindelwald’s arm rises and . . .
. . . blood spatters the flagstones, the glimmering blade in Grindelwald’s hand running red. Queenie’s breath catches— almost too softly to hear.
A VISION appears in the pooling blood, of TWO FIGURES, seen from on high, WALKING in the snow.
We CUT TO:
HOGSMEADE LOCATION RENDERING
12 EXT. HOGSMEADE—DAY
Newt and THESEUS trudge through the snow, past TATTY POSTERS of GRINDELWALD—HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WIZARD?
THESEUS
I don’t suppose you’d like to tell me what this is about, would you?
NEWT
He just asked that we meet. And that I be sure to bring you.
THESEUS
Right.
Theseus studies Newt as they walk ahead into HOGSMEADE.
13 INT. HOG’S HEAD—MOMENTS LATER—DAY
The bearded proprietor (ABERFORTH DUMBLEDORE) runs a dirty rag over the MIRROR behind the bar, his suspicious gaze shifting as Newt and Theseus, in REFLECTION, enter. As they glance about the squalid surroundings, he continues to clean.
ABERFORTH