Author J.K. Rowling will bring another element of the Harry Potter to life in another movie series…
The universe of Harry Potter will be coming back to life on the big screen minus Harry and his pals as author J.K. Rowling has signed on with Warner Bros. to turn her book ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ into a major motion picture.
The deal was announced on Thursday with Rowling making a statement about the new film, which will center around the character Newt Scamander — a former head of Hogwarts who traveled the globe researching and finding magical creatures to write about in his book.
The book and the character end up being mentioned in the Harry Potter universe on several occasions, and now Rowling will bring it to life in a new movie.
“It all started when Warner Bros. came to me with the suggestion of turning Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them into a film,” Rowling said in a press release. “I thought it was a fun idea, but the idea of seeing Newt Scamander, the supposed author of Fantastic Beasts, realized by another writer was difficult. Having lived for so long in my fictional universe, I feel very protective of it and I already knew a lot about Newt.
“As hard-core Harry Potter fans will know, I liked him so much that I even married his grandson, Rolf, to one of my favourite characters from the Harry Potter series, Luna Lovegood. As I considered Warners’ proposal, an idea took shape that I couldn’t dislodge. That is how I ended up pitching my own idea for a film to Warner Bros. Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for 17 years, 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, but Newt’s story will start in New York, 70 years before Harry’s gets underway. I particularly want to thank Kevin Tsujihara of Warner Bros. for his support in this project, which would not have happened without him. I always said that I would only revisit the wizarding world if I had an idea that I was really excited about and this is it.”
So there you have it folks — the new film will take place in the same world as Harry Potter but many years before Lord Voldemort strikes down Harry’s parents and long before he goes on his journey to stop the Dark Lord from rising to power again.
In the book series, Scamander was often talked about and mentioned as a former headmaster of Hogwarts and a leader in the studies of Magizoology (magical creatures). Now he will be the center of a new film headed up by the creator of the entire series.
While Harry Potter and his friends won’t even be born when Scamander is making his worldwide trek to track down the mystical creatures, there’s a good likelihood he will run into a few familiar faces from the wizarding universe.