‘Fantastic Beasts’ Theory Hints We Could Already Know Where the Sequels Are Set

The Harry Potter fandom is wondering what lies ahead after Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, and we may have our answer from a surprising place.

Spoilers for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald below!

In a now-deleted post, Reddit user Neilandio posited one fan theory, which argues that the settings for the remainder of the Fantastic Beasts movies were hinted at by J.K. Rowling all the way back in 2016. In a tweet from that year, which you can check out below, Rowling confirmed that there will be five movies in the franchise, an answer she then reiterated in different languages.

At the time, some fans wondered if the tweet was subtly revealing where each of the films would be set, based off of the languages that Rowling decided to use. The first “five” is written in English, which signifies the American setting of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, while “cinq” signifies the Parisian setting in Crimes of Grindelwald. The remaining answers also hint at other locales, with “fünf” in German, “cinco” in Spanish or Portuguese, and “cinque” in Italian.

Now that Crimes of Grindelwald has been released in theaters, that theory arguably seems to hold a lot more water, especially with what was revealed in the film’s final sequence. Gellert Grindelwald set up his base of sorts in Nurmengard, Austria — a country that just so happens to speak German. This has led some to believe that the third Fantastic Beasts film will primarily take place in Austria.

Another thing that supports this theory is a recent tweet from Rowling, in which she hints that she’s researching Rio de Janiero in the 1930s. Seeing as Spanish and Portuguese are spoken in Brazil, that certainly seems to hint at one of the films (possibly the fourth) being set in Rio.

Of course, there’s always a chance that the tweet isn’t laying out the settings in complete sequential order, and that the franchise will ultimately visit Austria, Brazil, and Italy in some other sort of combination. Still, the idea of Rowling planting the seeds of those locations that early on is certainly interesting, especially considering the overall plans she’s hinted at for the franchise.

“It’s far too early to spoil anything,” Rowling said of visiting other countries in future sequels. “What I can say is that we’ll go to at least one new city in the next film, possibly two, and I’m keen to move outside Europe and North America. But you’ll just have to wait and see.”

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is in theaters now. The next Fantastic Beasts movies will arrive in 2020, 2022, and 2024.