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When fans heard the name Leta Lestrange in the Harry Potter spinoff, Fantastic Beasts, it immediately sparked questions about her connection to the infamous Bellatrix Lestrange. As Voldemort's most loyal servant, Bellatrix committed heinous acts in his name, including murdering Harry Potter's godfather and her own cousin, Sirius Black. Leta Lestrange was less malicious than her distant-future relative but nevertheless carried the dark nature associated with the Lestrange family name.

Leta Letrange and Bellatrix's family connection isn't as easy to pinpoint as most of the Harry Potter blood relatives. Leta actress Zoë Kravitz was quoted as saying she played Bellatrix's great-great-aunt. However, there's little evidence for that. Born as Bellatrix Black, Bellatrix married into the Lestrange family, meaning she and Leta aren't related by blood. That makes Leta related to Bellatrix's husband, Rodolphus Lestrange, although that connection is no easier to find.

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Leta Lestrange And Her Brother, Corvus

The Lestrange family tree from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Leta's only known sibling was her infant brother, Corvus, whom she drowned while swapping him for a quieter baby on a sinking ship. With his and Leta's deaths, the only known carriers of the Lestrange name in the Fantastic Beasts films are gone. However, the Lestrange name lived on, likely through a distant relative to Leta's father, Corvus Lestrange IV.

Rodolphus' direct ancestor, Radolphus Lestrange, served as the Minister for Magic for Britain and Ireland from 1835 to 1841. That means the Lestrange family had already established itself in Britain by the 1830s. Corvus Lestrange IV still resided in France in the 1920s and died there shortly after sending his children away. Therefore, the Lestrange line must have disconnected sometime before Radolphus' tenure as Minister.

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The Lestrange Family Tree Is Difficult to Follow

The problem with trying to pinpoint where the split occurred is the lack of information about Rodolphus Lestrange's family line. A Lestrange attended Hogwarts with Voldemort, as shown in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which means Tom Riddle may have attended school with Rodolphus' father. The only other canon ancestor is Radolphus, dating back to the 1830s or '40s.

However, there is one possibility through Cyrille Lestrange I's bloodline. She was the sister of Corvus Lestrange I, Leta Lestrange's great-great-grandfather. She had her own descendants, ending with Nozéa Lestrange, who in 1927 was unmarried and childless. Rodolphus may have descended from this branch of the Lestrange family, but it's unlikely. Corvus Lestrange I was born in 1729, so his sister Cyrille would have been born in the 1700s as well. But Radolphus Lestrange does not appear anywhere on the Cyrille family tree, which dates from the 1700s to the 1900s, even though he was Minister for Magic in the 1800s.

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Leta looking at something off-screen in the Fantastic Beasts movie

It's possible that Radolphus was struck from the Lestrange family tree, just as the Blacks did to Sirius when he ran away from home. The Lestrange family was known for practicing the Dark Arts, and any member who turned away from that practice was considered a blood traitor and removed from the family tree. Radolphus' time as Minister for Magic may have been viewed as his attempt to uphold the law. However, it's more likely he simply descends from another line of Lestranges that split off further back.

The connection between Leta and Bellatrix is distant, at best. Perhaps, like Professor McGonagall's anachronic appearance in Fantastic Beasts 2, Leta and Bellatrix's bloodline wasn't fully thought through and inadvertently created a plot hole. Or maybe the Lestrange line simply runs that far back and has enough branches that Leta and Bellatrix could actually be distant cousins, several times removed. Either way, one thing is certain: Bellatrix and Leta both carried the dark history of the Lestrange name. While Bellatrix died fighting for her Dark Lord, Leta met an untimely end trying to escape her family's legacy and save the people she loved.

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Wizarding society is known for its long-standing families. Additionally, a lot of wizard families try to preserve "blood purity" by marrying only pure-blood wizards. In this sense, most families in the wizarding world are unavoidably related. For example, the Black family tree includes several iconic surnames, such as Potter, Malfoy, and Lestrange.

What's more, Arthur Weasley is Cedrella Black's son, but he doesn't feature in the Black family tree because he's considered a "blood traitor." Leta Lestrange's surname is one of the most renowned among pure-blood wizard families. It's likely that she's distantly related to Rodolphus Lestrange, and even to Bellatrix Lestrange, even if Bellatrix was born a Black.