Jude Law Says Fantastic Beasts Movies Are ‘Certainly on Hold’ with Harry Potter Television Reboot on the Way

Jude Law does not believe he’ll be slipping on wizard robes again anytime soon.

In a feature interview with Variety published Oct. 30, Law, 51, said the Fantastic Beasts movies — in which he portrayed a younger version of Harry Potter‘s iconic character Albus Dumbledore — are “certainly on hold.”

“My guess would be that, now that they’re doing Harry Potter as a TV show, they’ll probably put their energy into that,” he said. “I certainly haven’t heard that there’s anything on the horizon.”

Law first portrayed Dumbledore, whom the late actors Richard Harris and Michael Gambon played in the Potter film series, in 2018’s The Crimes of Grindelwald. He reprised the role in 2022’s The Secrets of Dumbledore, the last entry in the prequel franchise. Harry Potter series author J.K. Rowling, who wrote the screenplays for the Fantastic Beasts movies, said as far back as 2016 that she intended to make five Fantastic Beasts films, but for now, the series does not appear poised to return for a fourth film.

Law told Variety that he “had a pretty clear sense of where it was going to go” and spoke positively of his time portraying Dumbledore, often characterized as one of the series’ most powerful and enigmatic characters. 

“To play him and to really feel a sense of his extraordinary powers, I found a nice place in myself,” he said. “I liked his heart, and I liked playing him because of that. I always enjoyed stepping in his shoes.”

Back in October 2023, filmmaker David Yates, who directed each of the final four Potter films and the three Fantastic Beasts movies, told the Inside Total Film podcast that the series was “just parked” and said there were no “in-depth conversations at the moment” regarding its future. Eddie Redmayne, who costarred with Law in those films as the wizard Newt Scamander, similarly told ComicBook.com in a recent interview that “as far as I know, that’s it,” regarding his character.

As Law noted to Variety, Potterheads can remain excited for the franchise’s onscreen future on the small screen: Warner Bros.’ open casting call for children in the U.K. and Ireland between the ages of 9 and 11 to portray the series’ main trio of characters — Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley — expires on Oct. 31.

Applicants for the casting call were asked to send a 30-second video of themselves reading a poem or short story that is not from Harry Potter, as well as a second video speaking about themselves. 

As Deadline reported in September, HBO executive Casey Bloys most recently suggested the Harry Potter television series would air its first season in late 2026 or early 2027.