Fantastic Beasts brings Harry Potter universe back to theaters in November 2016

By Rick Marshall May 14, 2014

Hang on to your wands, Harry Potter fans. The much-anticipated return of J.K. Rowling’s magical world of wizards to the big screen now has an official release date.

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them will – if all goes as planned – be the first chapter in a brand new trilogy that kicks off November 18, 2016. Rowling herself will pen the screenplay for the film (and possibly the entire trilogy), which Warner Bros. is hoping to spin into a new franchise that will add to the impressive haul of the original, eight-film series.

While there has been no official word on the director of the film or its cast, the story is expected to focus on the adventures of “magizoologist” Newt Scamander, who has dedicated his life to the discovery and cataloguing of magical creatures. The series will be set at least 70 years before the events of the Harry Potter series, in which the book Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them was one of the textbooks studied by Harry and his classmates at wizard school. A real-world version of the book was published in 2001 for fans of the series.

It’s worth noting that Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them will hit theaters two days before the 15th-anniversary of the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – the first film in the previous franchise.

“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,” Rowling wrote in a Facebook post last year about the project. “But Newt’s story will start in New York, 70 years before Harry’s gets underway.”

Editors' Recommendations

Former Digital Trends Contributor

A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…

Entertainment

Fantastic Beasts 3 trailer pits Dumbledore vs. Grindelwald

The cast of Fantastic Beasts

The Harry Potter universe will continue this April in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, and the Wizarding World could surely use a hero in its darkest hour. But since Harry won't be born for several decades, the wizards will just have to make due with Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), the unlikely protagonist of the Fantastic Beasts films. Newt isn't the most powerful wizard, but he may be one of the few who can stand up to Gellert Grindelwald.

And what of Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law)? Perhaps the second-most powerful wizard in the world is stuck on the sidelines because he was once Grindelwald's lover. But that emotional connection isn't the reason why Dumbledore can't stop his ex. It's because Dumbledore and Grindelwald shared a magical pact to never harm one another. Grindelwald has already found his workaround by convincing Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller) that he is Dumbledore's lost brother Aurelius, and that he must kill Dumbledore in revenge. Fortunately, the new trailer suggests that Dumbledore may have found his release from the bond as well. And that means we will finally see Dumbledore take on Grindelwald directly.

Entertainment

New Fantastic Beasts movie posters reveal the cast

Eddie Redmayne as Newt in Fantastic Beasts.

There's a battle coming to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter several decades before his birth. While the rest of humanity heads inexorably toward World War II, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is about to unleash a magic civil war. And in this conflict, there are only two real options: Siding with the malevolent Gellert Grindelwald or with his former lover, Albus Dumbledore.

Warner Bros. Pictures has released 18 new character posters from The Secrets of Dumbledore. These are the major players in the war to come. But since Dumbledore (Jude Law) is restrained by a magical pact with Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen), he has to defer to his best student, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne). But as good as Newt is, he isn't Grindelwald's equal. That's why Newt has been assembling a team to stand against the evil wizard. Unfortunately, he has plenty of followers of his own, and they aren't shy about using dark magic against their enemies.

Entertainment

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore trailer sends the wizards to war

The cast of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.

There's a war coming to the wizarding world, and Albus Dumbledore has been forced to the sidelines while the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald assembles his forces. However, the first trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore demonstrates that Albus is far from helpless. Thanks to his efforts, an unlikely team of wizards (and one muggle) may be enough to turn the tide against Grindelwald. Their bravery is inspiring, especially in the face of Grindelwald's evil. But he has already arranged a nasty surprise for Dumbledore: A long-lost brother who wants him dead.

Since Johnny Depp was forced to step down from the franchise, this trailer marks the official debut of Hannibal's Mads Mikkelsen as the new Grindelwald. It's unclear if the character's new face is part of the plot or if the audience is supposed to simply accept the recasting without explanation. Regardless, Mikkelsen's Grindelwald is appropriately sinister and powerful in the new footage. He has also convinced Credence Barebone that Albus wants him dead because Credence is actually Aurelius Dumbledore. This information is coming solely from Grindelwald, so we can't actually take what he says at face value. Yet Credence believes it, and it fuels his confrontation with Albus in the trailer.