It's been five years since the Harry Potter movie series concluded, and while Harry's latest story in adulthood is currently being told on stage, Warner Bros is aiming to expand the Wizarding World on the big screen by delving into the past. Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is jumping back to the 1920s to follow Newt Scamander's adventure in the United States. We already knew that Fantastic Beasts is the first entry in a trilogy, but now we've learned from director David Yates that the second movie has already been written.
While promoting his latest movie, The Legend of Tarzan, Yates told GSNews that Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has already penned Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them 2. He said:
We've done the first one, she's written the second one, she's got ideas for the third one. No one quite has ownership of them quite yet, in terms of having a relationship with the material, other than the relationship they'll have with the movie when it comes out.
Given Warner Bros plans for Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, it's not terribly surprising that J.K. Rowling already has the second installment of the series written. In October 2014, the studio announced that Fantastic Beasts 2 will be released on November 16, 2018, and the third movie will follow on November 20, 2020. That means the sequel will need to begin shooting sometime in the middle of 2017 if they want to keep its release date. Okay, so maybe Rowling could have gotten away with finishing the script a little later this year, but now that it's completed, this will give them plenty of time for preproduction and other stages of planning. Judging by Yates' comments, it sounds like Rowling is keeping story details close to her chest, revealing only what she needs to until the movie is officially underway.
Of course, news about Fantastic Beasts 2 is almost nonexistent because the first movie is still four months away from release. Taking place 70 years before the events of the Harry Potter movies, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them will follow Newt Scamander, played by Eddie Redmayne, who comes to the United States with his magic briefcase containing numerous magical creatures. However, when an accident sets these creatures free across New York City, Newt will have to work with his new allies to track them down, all while avoiding capture by the American wizarding authorities and the sinister New Salem Philanthropic Society. The movie's cast includes Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Ezra Miller and more.
Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them will be released in theaters November 18, and once that's had time to haul in money at the box office, then we should start to hear more details about the sequel.
