Leta Lestrange’s death at the end of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald was a pretty big surprise. And maybe our shock was justified: That twist may not’ve always been the plan, and at least one Hollywood insider believes she’ll be back.

Update (October 14): In addition to interesting comments made on Dan Fogler’s podcast (see below), a reporter who broke the news of Kravitz joining The Batman revealed that her casting was up in the air due to future work on Fantastic Beasts:

Leta’s fate has been up in the air for a while. Last December, Kravitz appeared on Dan Fogler’s “4d Xperience” podcast, and the two Fantastic Beasts stars touched on the former’s apparent death at the end of Grindelwald. Turns out killing Leta wasn’t always the plan.

Kravitz seems to believe that getting “Blue Fire Toasted,” and seemingly being killed due to the flames engulfing her, was a “last minute change.” Here’s how the conversation went on the podcast:

Dan Fogler: Spoilers.. you get fuckin’ toasted by… you get Blue Fire Toasted.

Zoe Kravitz: Leta Go Bye Bye.

Fogler: Leta Go Bye Bye. Did they give you any idea you’d come back as a ghost or something?

Kravitz: It seems very unclear.

Fogler: I want you to haunt Jacob or something. Like you’ve got something to tell from beyond the grave.

Kravitz: I’d love to do that. A little haunting action would be cool. I don’t know. It was, I think it was a kind of a last minute change that she gets toasted.

Fogler: They’re going to have to bring you back somehow. I think they’re gonna have to.

Kravitz: It’d be cool if they did, but if they don’t, that’s fine.

Fogler: They brought Credence back! The Obscurus helped him. Maybe some kind of Lestrange thing where you reincarnate, like Gandalf.

Kravitz: I’m open to all possibilities.

Fogler: I’m gonna… Well who knows what’s gonna happen, but I’m gonna float that out there. I really want you to come back.

So… Leta might not be dead. Kravitz doesn’t explain why she feels it was a “last minute change,” but it might suggest that Rowling has not officially killed off Leta. This is completely a guess on my part, but perhaps it was a filmmaking decision to only make it look like she died in order to raise the stakes.

Bringing Leta “back” might be a risky move, because pulling a fake out doesn’t always go over well with moviegoers. We also have to consider that there might be one other fake out going on in the series: We don’t know if Grindelwald is telling Credence the truth about his supposed identity. Two major fake outs spanning The Crimes of Grindelwald and Fantastic Beasts 3 would be pretty unforgivable, in this fan’s opinion.

Do you think Leta is dead? Tell us in the comments

Fantastic Beasts 3 will open November 2021. Thanks to Amanda for the tip!