Ezra Miller Opens Up About Shocking Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald Twist
Contains spoilers for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
Stunned by the massive twist that came at the end of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald? So was Ezra Miller.
Miller recently sat down for a chat with Entertainment Weekly, during which he addressed the jaw-dropping revelation that his character, the Obscurial wizard Credence Barebone who was presumed dead after destroying New York City in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, is actually Aurelius Dumbledore — as in the surprise brother of legendary wizard and eventual Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, played in the film by Jude Law.
"I was shocked, stunned, confused, petrificus totalus with wonder and fascination," Miller said of the twist, which came when Johnny Depp's nefarious wizard Gellert Grindelwald told Credence about his parentage. "And I still have a lot of questions for which I have no answers."
But it isn't as if Miller was completely in the dark about his character's true identity going into The Crimes of Grindelwald. He shared with the outlet that he actually discovered Credence was a member of the Dumbledore family tree back in 2016. J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potter novel series author and the screenwriter of The Crimes of Grindelwald, dished the details to Miller during the press campaign for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. And the actor is overjoyed at the fact that Credence is now apparently connected to Albus and Aberforth Dumbledore (portrayed in the Harry Potter movies by Ciarán Hinds), and is eager to continue playing the character as his abilities evolve.
"As he changes, there's an opportunity for me as an actor to look to five of my favorite performances of all time — the people I've seen play Albus and Aberforth. Shout out to all those incredible actors, and I'm thrilled to play the game that we're now blood relations. It's very fun," said Miller. "And there's a funny connection to the name Aurelius given one of the actors who played Dumbledore."
Miller then teased that no one knows whether Albus is aware that he has a brother in Credence — except for Law, who is keeping quiet on the answer.
"We truly do not know. Jude knows. But he won't tell you," he stated.
Now, if you're one of the Harry Potter-slash-Fantastic Beasts fans out there who is calling foul on this whole "Credence is a Dumbledore — Albus' brother who was never mentioned in the lore before this very moment, to be exact" situation, Miller has some words for you. The 26-year-old actor assured that Rowling is "really good" at dropping bombshells to hook viewers and then explaining down the line the full story and everything that went into the twist — so don't worry too much right now about the circumstances surrounding Credence's identity.
"She knows the mythology so well and I think she's into confounding you for a moment and having a fan go, 'wait that can't make sense!' and then showing you how things you thought couldn't make sense make sense," Miller said. "I think she enjoys people not getting it for a second. She's done it to us a bunch of times."
So, does this all mean that Credence is 100-percent Aurelius Dumbledore, just as Grindelwald claimed? Maybe, but maybe not.
Miller told IndieWire in a separate interview that he feels "there are reasons why Grindelwald would definitely know something like that, given his connection to Albus and that family," and that it's "not impossible that there's validity and truth to it." On the other hand, however, Miller believes that it's also "not impossible" that Grindelwald is flat-out lying.
Considering Warner Bros. has plans for three more Fantastic Beasts movies yet to come, fans will learn the truth about Credence — excuse us, Aurelius — eventually.