Spoilers for Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them lie ahead.
Warner Bros has announced that production has officially begun on the second film in the Harry Potter spin-off series, Fantastic Beasts.
This one’s going by the working title of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them 2 whilst we wait for the official name to be confirmed. David Yates, who helmed the last four Harry Potter films as well as Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is directing this movie as well.
The start of production announcement also brings with it casting confirmations. Eddie Redmayne is back in the lead role of Newt Scamander, whilst Katherine Waterston is Auror Tina Goldstein, Alison Sudol is Queenie and Dan Fogler is Jacob Kowalski.
Then we get Johnny Depp in the role of Gellert Grindelwald, Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore (the younger version), Ezra Miller as Credence, Zoe Kravitz as Leta Lestrange, Callum Turner as Theseus Scamander and Claudia Kim, whose character hasn’t been named.
From the official announcement comes the following story details…
J.K. Rowling wrote the screenplay for the film, which opens in 1927, a few months after Newt helped to unveil and capture the infamous Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. However, as he promised he would, Grindelwald has made a dramatic escape and has been gathering more followers to his cause—elevating wizards above all non-magical beings. The only one who might be able to stop him is the wizard he once called his dearest friend, Albus Dumbledore. But Dumbledore will need help from the wizard who had thwarted Grindelwald once before, his former student Newt Scamander. The adventure reunites Newt with Tina, Queenie and Jacob, but his mission will also test their loyalties as they face new perils in an increasingly dangerous and divided wizarding world.
The film expands the wizarding world, moving from New York to London and on to Paris. There are also some surprising nods to the Harry Potter stories that will delight fans of the books and film series.
The film will be released on November 16th 2018. Five films in all in the series are planned.