Two Polarizing Harry Potter Movies Are Vanishing From HBO Max—Watch Them While You Still Can

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If for some reason you were planning to stream the latter Fantastic Beasts films any time soon, you might want to get your skates on. Those Harry Potter prequels – you know, the ones where Dumbledore and Grindelwald can’t decide if they want to be friends, lovers, or sworn enemies – are about to vanish from HBO Max. Yes, I’m talking about The Crimes of Grindelwald and The Secrets of Dumbledore, the two instalments set well before young Harry made Hogwarts cool.

Mark Your Calendar…If You Care

Right, so here’s the deal: both Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (that’s the second one) and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (the third, and probably final, chapter) will be removed from HBO Max on Monday, 1 June 2026. So, if you’ve an inexplicable urge to hear Eddie Redmayne mumble about magical creatures while Jude Law gets all pensive as Dumbledore, you’ve got until then.

Recap: What’s the Big Deal With These Films Anyway?

Both films were helmed by David Yates – he’s the bloke who finished off most of the Potter films – working off scripts written by J. K. Rowling herself. Rowling also had a producer credit, just in case anyone forgot who created this whole wizarding shindig.

• The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018): Picks up a year after the first one. Grindelwald (Johnny Depp, at that point) escapes custody – as dark wizards do – and rallies the pure-bloods to subjugate muggles. Dumbledore (Jude Law) sends Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) on what’s essentially a wild goose chase. Along the way, we get more angst about Credence Barebone and his mysterious family links.
  Reception? Pretty dire. 36% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, and not much better from the audience at 53%. IMDb has it at 6.5/10, which is only just polite. Still, with a $200 million budget, it raked in $655.7 million worldwide – so I suppose magic still sells, even if no one was especially happy about it.
  Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Johnny Depp, Callum Turner, Ezra Miller, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Zoë Kravitz. Bit of an all-star cast, but even they couldn’t conjure up decent dialogue.
• The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022): By now, Mads Mikkelsen is playing Grindelwald because, well, the Johnny Depp situation. This time Grindelwald’s had enough of skulking about and wants proper political power. Dumbledore finally decides to actually do something and forms a rag-tag squad to stop him, led by Newt. Better reviews this round – relatively speaking. Critics brought it up to 46% on Rotten Tomatoes, and the audience seemed way happier at 83%. IMDb’s still not convinced at 6.2/10. But the box office was much less magical: only $407.1 million, still on a $200 million budget.

So, Why Are They Leaving?

This is the usual licensing merry-go-round. Studios swap streaming rights all the time; sometimes it's entirely to do with deals the lawyers thrashed out ages ago, not popularity or some secret plot to purge your watchlist. So expect to see these turn up somewhere else – probably just after you finally bother to sit down and watch them.

'We’re used to things coming and going from streaming, but when entire properties start shifting around, it does give fans a headache. Especially when you’re trying to piece together a multi-film franchise in the right order!'

In short: if those later Fantastic Beasts are on your rewatch list, you’ve got until June 2026 to make it happen on HBO Max. After that, you’ll probably have to chase them down elsewhere. Or maybe just re-read the books – all a bit less complicated, frankly.

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