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Harry Potter appears to confirm Fawkes is in Fantastic Beasts

Dumbledore's pet phoenix Fawkes from Harry Potter has seemingly been confirmed to be the bird that appears in the Fantastic Beasts movies

Harry Potter appears to confirm Fawkes is in Fantastic Beasts

Despite being a Harry Potter spin-off centred around magical creatures, no one expected to see the return of phoenixes in the Fantastic Beasts prequel movies. But, taking us all by surprise, we have seen the character Credence (Ezra Miller) being followed by a fiery bird on multiple occasions, and many fans are wondering if the feathered creature in the fantasy movies is actually Albus Dumbledore’s pet phoenix, Fawkes.

Fawkes was first introduced in the 2002 movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as the Hogwarts headmaster’s trusty companion. However, the initial Harry Potter flicks may not be his only acting gig. Although it has never explicitly been stated, many believe Fawkes appears in both the prequel movies, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore as the mysterious phoenix protecting Credence. Now, that suspicion has seemingly been confirmed by the Fantastic Beasts social media account.

On Instagram, the official Fantastic Beasts account posted a video going through all the Easter eggs in the latest film, The Secrets of Dumbledore. During the clip, Fawkes is specifically highlighted as being in the movie and serving as a connection to the larger Harry Potter franchise.

You can see the original Instagram post below:

The Easter egg video is shocking and confirms all the speculations we Potterheads have been holding on to. However, it should also be taken with a grain of salt. Since Fawkes has only been confirmed by the social media accounts, his identity isn’t completely official just yet.

At an ITV press conference in 2005, writer JK Rowling said that no one before Dumbledore has ever owned Fawkes. This would make Credence and Fawkes’s relationship impossible in the Fantastic Beasts movies.

But saying that, the Harry Potter canon has changed multiple times in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. We are still confused as to how exactly Grindelwald got the Elder Wand, or how Minerva McGonagall was teaching at Hogwarts in 1927 despite being previously thought to have been born in 1935. So, really, a phoenix having a different owner isn’t that big a shift.

The best bet to see if Fawkes is officially in the Fantastic Beasts movies is to wait for the release of the Secrets of Dumbledore screenplay, which is scheduled to be available for purchase on July, 19.