After much laid out background information in the first Fantastic Beasts, the director David Yates comes back with “Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald,” written by J.K. Rowling. The sequel includes much-needed substance delving into the lives of the Dumbledores, many of whom we soon learn about in this sequel. The first part of the five-part series barely keeps the audience hooked, especially those who seek fulfillment as a hardcore Harry Potter fan.

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” introduced us to Newt Scamander and his love for animals along with his two friends he finds along the way, Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski and Alison Sudol as Queenie Goldstein playing out the Harry, Ron and Hermione trio who have already gone through the coming-of-age part. But beyond setting up the time scheme that sets the narrative before the Harry Potter series, finding Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) a love interest and revealing that Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) is actually Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp), the protagonist of the five part series, it seems as if there isn’t too much to take away from part one. There is, however, a multitude of details in the last 15 minutes that goes unnoticed until the sequel. Crimes of Grindelwald gives us some answers but equally leaves us with an abundance of questions.

The second part of Fantastic Beasts skips a couple of years and begins with Queenie and Jacob finding Newt where Tina has left him due to a miscommunication in the local paper that showed Leta Lestrange (Zoe Kravitz) bonding with Newt instead of her fiance — his brother. We also rediscover Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller) who is now on a quest to search for his mother. On this journey, the audience learns that Tina and Yusuf Kama (William Nadylam) are hunting down Credence with the in- tention to kill him, believing that he is the last of the Lestrange Family. The plot continues as Newt seeks to put an end to Grindelwald, but also ties in the secrets of the the Dumbledore family, especially Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) and his relationship to Gellert and Credence.

To say that J.K. Rowling is a mastermind is an understatement. The details placed in the Wizarding World are endless, and experiencing the same universe at different times proves just that. Although the character development may not be quite convincing with all these details and a change in the cast, all the actors exceed in their roles with the limitation present. A casting choice that continues to stand out is Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald. With other films in his repertoire where he is unrecognizable (Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd and The Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland, to name a few), being cast in this five-part series can be very unsurprising — almost as a move that was too easy — but in fact essential. Depp effortlessly falls into this role as a dark wizard to be equally matched with the cruelness of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. A surprise casting, on the other hand, was Jude Law as young Albus Dumbledore who, other than his namesake role, did not have too much scope to show for his diverse talent.

But the true winners of the this film were all the leading ladies. As Harry Potter fans who were deprived a strong Hermione-like heroine in the first Fantastic Beasts, J.K. Rowling answers our requests with Leta Lestrange and with another dimension to Queenie Goldstein’s character, who manages to unravel her many layers in this sequel. Kravitz plays Leta with such subtlety continuing to surprise the audience with her decisions, truthfully revealing her pains and her loyalty.

“Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald” digs deep into the Wizarding World, pulling out narratives the audience hadn’t even thought to ask about. With a larger and talented cast and intelligently-weaved details, “Crimes of Grindelwald” brings in the Harry Potter fans who almost dropped out last time and more.