With Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them delving into the past history of the Harry Potter series, a real important casting choice is on the horizon. More specifically, a younger version of Albus Dumbledore is going to be a tough role to fill, though not due to lack of options. While J.K. Rowling has a choice firmly set in her mind, an incredibly geek friendly actor has endeavored to put himself at the forefront of the casting race: Arthur Darvill, better known to most folks as Rory, one of the past companions on Doctor Who.
Digital Spy caught up with Darvill, as he's promoting a musical version of Fantastic Mr. Fox on the West End, and as we in the business tend to do from time to time, someone asked the Legends of Tomorrow star if he'd be up for the role of a young Albus Dumbledore. Like anyone worth their salt, Arthur Darvill saw an opportunity to put his name out there, and he responded as follows:
Absolutely, [I'm up for it]. D'you know what? I've made this pact with myself that when I hit a certain age, I'm only going to play wizards. I want to be that guy. So whether it's 10 years down the line or... when I can grow a salt and pepper beard, I would be totally happy just playing wizards for the rest of my life. But yeah, if they came knocking saying, 'We really want you to play the young Dumbledore,' I'd definitely consider it!
Since the announcement that Dumbledore would be coming back to the Harry Potter fold, everyone and their mother has been submitting their dream casting choices for the pivotal role of the wizard who was once friends, and eventually an enemy, to Gellert Grindelwald. With the scourge of the wizarding world during the Fantastic Beasts era, and precursor to the reign of terror that would follow at the hands of Voldemort himself, being present in the new series of films, it's equally important to cast an actor that would compliment the talents of Grindelwald's acting avatar, Johnny Depp.
To be honest, Arthur Darvill is a pretty good choice that we actually hadn't thought of casting in the role of Albus Dumbledore. After his experiences on Doctor Who and Legends of Tomorrow, as well as his role as a local priest on Broadchurch, those three parts seem to be the perfect combination of acting chops that would lead to Darvill being an excellent Dumbledore. Also, his youthful swagger that was best seen during his time in the TARDIS would help give us the more cavalier Albus that we've heard about in the lore of the Harry Potter series.
Ultimately, it's too soon to expect a decision on the casting of Albus Dumbledore. While the script for Fantastic Beasts 2 is completed (or close to it), the release date is set for November 16, 2018. This leaves plenty of time to cast the pivotal roles for the sequel's European trek through Paris and parts unknown to us at this time. We'll keep our eyes open for any further updates on the progression of this magical sequel, but for now, Arthur Darvill is pretty high up on our list of potential Dumbledores. Whether he bests previous favorite Matt Smith will be decided in time.
