Voldemort Actor Ralph Fiennes Open to Returning as Harry Potter Villain in ‘Fantastic Beasts’

Harry Potter fans said goodbye to Voldemort on screen in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in 2011, yet the creation of the Fantastic Beasts franchise has allowed audiences new opportunities to revisit familiar characters. With the timeframe of the Fantastic Beasts series, we won’t expect to see characters like the teen-aged wizards, but the inclusion of Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall has led fans to wonder who else might return to the franchise. The trajectory of Tom Riddle and his evolution into Voldemort might not see the appearance of the adult version of the villain, though actor Ralph Fiennes isn’t ruling out the return.

During an appearance on Newsnight [H/T Express], the actor was asked if he could possibly return, with Fiennes noting, “Well, there are variants, aren’t there? Fantastic Beasts and things.”

Voldemort’s demise in the last Harry Potter film understandably caused complications with the idea of Fiennes returning, yet his multiple portrayals as the character has secured a soft spot in the performer’s heart. The actor added, “I feel a kind of affection for Voldemort. So if there was a world in which Voldemort came back, I would be very possessive about wanting to reprise that.”

While Fiennes may have grown quite possessive over the character, he also recently revealed that he didn’t immediately connect with the Dark Lord. In fact, the actor nearly turned down the opportunity when he was initially presented to him.

“The truth is I was actually ignorant about the films and the books,” Fiennes explained on The Jonathan Ross Show. “I was approached by the production. Mike Newell was directing the film that they wanted me to be in… the first time Voldemort was going to appear physically.”

Luckily for the actor and the legions of Harry Potter fans who can’t imagine anyone else embracing the role, Fiennes’ family encouraged him to seize the opportunity. Fiennes added, “Out of ignorance I just sort of thought, this isn’t for me… Quite stupidly I resisted, I was hesitant. I think the clincher was that my sister Martha – who has three children who were then probably about 12, 10 and 8 – she said, ‘What do you mean? You’ve got to do it!’ So then I rewound my thinking.”

Fans have a long wait ahead of them for any future inclusion of Voldemort, as Fantastic Beasts 3 has been pushed to sometime in 2021.

Would you like to see Voldemort appear again in a new film? Let us know in the comments below!