I thought I would be done with this. I thought I had cried my final tears four-years ago when the last Harry Potter film ended. Never would I have thought that I would be writing something related to HP in my adult life, especially something that is relevant to our present day. But as Warner Bros. have decided to adapt J.K Rowling’s novel Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them to the big screen, I’m obviously going to take any chance that I can get to write about it. Within the past couple of months, the public have been given a handful of information about the film here and there, which have been spread sporadically throughout our social media platforms. However, I am going to try and lay out all the information I could gather about the film for you all in one post (and hope that my inner 15-year-old HP fangirl doesn’t take over).

What is Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is originally a 2001 novel written by J.K Rowling under the pseudonym of Newt Scamander, a fictional magizoologist (the study of magical creatures). In the book, Scamander lists the 85 magical creatures that reside around the world, which he found through observations from his travels around 5 different continents. Within the Harry Potter Universe, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is used as a Hogwarts textbook that is compulsory for first-year students (even though the class Care of Magical Creatures is not introduced until third-year). However, the book is a helpful encyclopaedia to identify Dark Creatures for the class Defence Against the Dark Arts, and, according to Albus Dumbledore, is a wonderful addition for a wizarding household.

How will it be made into a film?

As the current synopsis goes, the film will follow the adventures of Newt Scamander and his quest to find magical beasts. J.K Rowling herself has stated that it does not serve as a prequel or a sequel to the Harry Potter world, but will act as an addition to the Wizarding Universe. It will take place in 1920’s New York, which is seven decades before Harry Potter and his gang go to Hogwarts.

We get to explore the Wizarding community of a different country

Because the film is set in America, we definitely get to see U.S witches and wizards, right? Absolutely! If you religiously follow Rowling on Twitter, you would know that she has already teased the idea of the American School of Wizardry. Even though it is uncertain that we will be introduced to this school, we do get to meet some of it’s ex-students and may even explore the inner-workings of American magic, which apparently is influenced by Native American culture.

The Crew

It’s reunion time for the Harry Potter crew, as all have worked on most/all of the movies within the franchise. Producer David Heyman (of the last 8 installations) and Executive Producer Lionel Wigram (of the last 4 installations) , are making their comeback, alongside David Yates, who directed the last four Harry Potter films. J.K Rowling has written the script herself, with involvement from Steve Kloves, who has scripted all but one of the Harry Potter films.



The Cast

Unlike the crew, we won’t be seeing any of the original cast return for the film, as Daniel Radcliffe has already stated, “I don’t think I’m coming back”. Not to fret though! As Warner Bros. have collected themselves a fine mix of actors and actresses for the film as follows:

Eddie Redmayne– Oscar-Winner for The Theory of Everything will be taking the lead role of Newton Scamander.

Katharine Watersone– known for her roles in Inherent Vice and Boardwalk Empire will be playing Scamander’s love interest (and eventual wife) Porpentina, an American witch.

Alison Sudol– Quirky actress/musician will be playing alongside Waterstone as her sister, Queenie.

Colin Farrell– Golden Globe winner for In Bruges was confirmed a few days ago and was announced as a character called Graves, a wizard that Scamander encounters. It is rumoured that he will be the brother of Queenie and Porpentina.

Jenn Murray– the Dorothy Mills actress, who was also announced a few days ago, will be apart of the cast, with her role unconfirmed as of yet.

Ezra Miller– We Need To Talk About Kevin star will be a rival character against Scamander and will share scenes with Murray.

Dan Fogler– known for roles like Zeng in Kung Fu Panda, will be playing an American muggle who is searching for magical creatures and bumps into Scamander along the way.

Faith Wood-Blagrove– the 10-year-old, who won the International Search for Young Talents will be taking the role of Modesty, who has already been described as “a haunted young girl with inner strength and stillness” with the ability to see “deep into people and understand them.”

The film would never have happened without Warner Brothers CEO’s influence

Warner Brothers must have been keen to keep the Harry Potter franchise alive (considering that it is their second-highest-grossing franchise of all time) and apparently would not have happened if Warner Brothers CEO Kevin Tsujihara did not push for the production of Fantastic Beasts. Rowling stated, “When I say he made ‘Fantastic Beasts’ happen, it isn’t P.R-speak but the literal truth. We had one dinner, a follow-up telephone call, and then I got out the rough draft that I’d thought was going to be an interesting bit of memorabilia for my kids and started re-writing!”



Fantastic Beasts And Where to Find Them will be the first of a trilogy

That’s right! Like The Hobbit (*cough* cash grab *cough*), this one singular novel will be turned into THREE films. Kevin Tsujihara has already confirmed that it will become “three mega movies” and J.K Rowling has nearly finished the material for the first film and is already working on the two additional chapters. Release dates have already been chosen, with the first movie set to come out on November 18, 2016 and the other two preceding on November 16, 2018 and November 20, 2020.

Thank you, Warner Brothers. Thank you for keeping the spirit of Harry Potter and all it’s magic alive. From what I have read, the public, young and old, are genuinely excited to see this novel adapted into a live-action. Hopefully the success of this film will manifest into others within the “Hogwarts Library” like The Tales of Beedle The Bard and Quidditch Through the Ages.