Fantastic Beasts: Everything We Know About The New Harry Potter Spin-Off

For those still devastated that the ‘Harry Potter’ films are over (we miss you Snape!) the good news is that Warner Bros. has committed to return to the Potter-verse with not one, but at least THREE spin-off films based on JK Rowling’s 2001 charity novella ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them’.

But what can us muggles expect from these magical new films? Here’s everything we know so far.

Release dates

Fantastic Beasts Release Date: 18 November, 2016

Fantastic Beasts 2 Release Date: 16 November, 2018

Fantastic Beasts 3 Release Date: 20 November, 2020

What’s the plot?

The source book ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them’ was a slim compendium released by JK Rowling to help raise money for Comic Relief in 2001. It’s a Hogwarts textbook written by magizoologist Newt Scamander that helps young wizards to learn about magical creatures.

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The films will tell the adventures of the book’s author (played by Eddie Redmayne) and his three chums Tina (Katherine Waterston), Queenie (Alison Sudol), and Jacob (Dan Fogler), but it won’t be a straight set-up for the stories that happen in the ‘Harry Potter’ films as JK Rowling explained in the official announcement for the films.

Rowling said, “’Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world. The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films.”

Thanks to Entertainment Weekly, we now know that the story begins when Newt heads to New York where some monsters in his collection escape. EW also confirms the film is a bit more “grown up” than the Potter films, with no children in the core cast.

Fantastic Beasts: What’s the setting?

Rather than retreading the same locations we’ve already seen in the eight ‘Harry Potter’ films, the filmmakers will be showing us a whole new side to the magical world - America. Newt’s story begins in New York 1926; seventy years before Harry’s story began and will stay there, at least for the duration of the first film.

The Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA), the American equivalent of the Ministry of Magic, is set to play a large part in proceedings, and the EW cover shows Scamander in the New York head offices, hidden inside the real life Woolworth building.

The “About This Book” section of the original book says Newt’s travels took him “from darkest jungle to brightest desert, from mountain peak to marshy bog” visiting “lairs, burrows, and nests across five continents”, so we think the films won’t stay in New York for the entirety of the trilogy.

Will any Harry Potter characters cameo in Fantastic Beasts?

Due to the period it’s set, it’s highly unlikely that we’ll see Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, or any of the regular cast returning for cameos.

However, the 1920s setting could allow for appearances from some of the older characters. That means we could see a young Dumbledore and his wider circle of friends and family, including his brother Aberforth and sister Ariana, whose backstory could make for a great sub-plot.

Other peripheral figures of the right vintage from Harry Potter lore that could appear include Dumbledore’s friend-turned-enemy Gellert Grindelwald, wizarding historian Bathilda Bagshot, famous wandmaker Mykew Gregorovitch, and Dobby.

Who’s making Fantastic Beasts?

For those of you thinking this just seems like a shameless cash grab, you’ll be heartened to hear that JK Rowling is fully involved with the production, and she’s written the screenplay - her first - for the opening instalment.

Steve Kloves, the screenwriter for all but one of the Potter films is working on the films in an undisclosed capacity too.

David Heyman, who produced all the Potter films as well as ‘Gravity’ and ‘Paddington’ is producing the trilogy and it’s currently shooting here in the UK on the same soundstages the Potter films were made on in Leavesden.

David Yates (pictured above) is directing ‘Fantastic Beasts’ and we wouldn’t bet against him doing the sequels too. Yates is a safe pair of hands for WB having helmed every Potter film from ‘Order of the Phoenix’ onwards, so it should remain similar in tone to those later Potter films.

When will the first trailer arrive?

Warner Bros. will likely want to attach the first teasers to one of their own movies so we wouldn’t be surprised to see the first ‘Fantastic Beasts’ trailer when ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ hits cinemas in March next year.

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Image credits: Warner Bros./EW