Professor McGonagall's casting in Fantastic Beasts 2 breaks canon and Potter fans are not happy

Harry Potter's Transfiguration teacher might appear in the upcoming film – despite not being born at the time

Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Warner Bros

Published: Tuesday, 6 November 2018 at 12:51 pm

Prepare to be confunded, Harry Potter fans. Professor Minerva McGonagall might be appearing in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

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A younger version of Hogwarts’ Transfiguration professor and Head of Gryffindor House will appear in the film, according to reports – despite the character not being born in 1927 when the film is set.

Although not explicitly outlined in the Harry Potter books, fans have calculated that McGonagall was born in 1935. In The Order of the Phoenix the professor (played by Maggie Smith in the Potter films) reveals she began teaching at Hogwarts in December 1956 after working for the Ministry for two years immediately after her graduation.

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So, if she graduated from Hogwarts in 1954 ­– and presuming she wasn’t forced to repeat several years (but come on, this is McGonagall we’re talking about) – she would have been a first-year student in 1947 and thus been born in 1935.

True, her appearance in the film could be possible with a time-turner, but we doubt the ever-stern McGonagall would approve of such rule-breaking.

And users on Twitter are just as unconvinced…

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Of course, McGonagall wouldn’t be the only character from the Harry Potter series to make an appearance in Fantastic Beasts. Jude Law will be playing a younger version of Michael Gambon's Dumbledore – although fans recently pointed out he looks a lot younger than the Dumbledore circa 1938, seen in the Half Blood Prince.

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We can also expect actress Claudia Kim to play Nagini, Voldemort's loyal and deadly snake/Horcrux, a Maledictus whose blood curse will eventually turn her into a serpent permanently.

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Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald will be released in the UK on Friday 16th November

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