What We Know About ‘Harry Potter’ Spinoff So Far

Fans are buzzing about the latest Harry Potter series spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It’s been four years since the final Harry Potter film ended, and the cast and crew moved on with their lives. More than a few fans were sad to see the series end, even with the satisfying conclusion.

However, it’s not the end of the magical world of Harry Potter, thanks to a new film adapted from one of the fictional textbooks used at Hogwarts called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. There wasn’t much mentioned in the series about this book, but it’s soon becoming a movie, and here’s what we know about it so far.

It looks like the setting will take place 70 years before Harry’s years at Hogwarts, and the story is going Stateside. A lot of the action is going to take place during the jazz age in New York.

It will follow the adventures of Newt Scamander, a famous magizoologist. You might remember that name from Rowling’s books in 2001. Scamander’s portrait also hung in Dumbledore’s study in the film version.

Scamander was a celebrated member of the wizarding world, and he was the author of one of the first books that Potter and his friends studied in their first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Scamander is also fictionally noted as introducing the 1947 Werewolf Registry and the ban on the experimental breeding of magical creatures in 1965.

Perhaps his most exciting achievement is the work he performs with the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau. Here’s hoping that we get to see a little more dragon action coming up in the film.

Apparently, the screenplay is being written by J.K. Rowling herself, which is very exciting for fans of the series, and the cast is quickly coming together. Oscar-winning Eddie Redmayne is cast as Scamander, and Katherine Waterson (Inherent Vice) will play Porpentina, nicknamed Tina, who is Newt’s love interest. Tina’s sister will be played by Alison Sudol.

The newest member of the cast will be Colin Farrell, who just signed on to play a wizard from New York named Graves. Other cast members include Ezra Miller and Dan Fogler.

This will be the first of three films that Warner Bros wants to produce, all of them with J.K. Rowling at the helm. However, we still have a bit of a wait for the first Harry Potter spinoff, which won’t be out until November 2016.

[Image via ScienceFiction.com]