‘Fantastic Beasts’ Sequel Begins Production as New Plot Details Are Revealed
Production has begun on the next chapter of J.K Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them franchise. The sequel – which earned $814 million at the box office last year – is currently untitled as principle photography started in the UK on Monday at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden.
The film will see Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) return and join forces with Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) in an attempt to fight against dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp).
Warner Bros. revealed new plot details in a statement:
“Grindlewald (Depp) has made a dramatic escape and has been gathering more followers to his cause – elevating wizards above all non-magical beings. The only one who might be able to stop him is the wizard he once called his dearest friend, Album Dumbledore. But Dumbledore will need help from the wizard who had thwarted Grindlewald once before, his former student Newt Scamander. The Adventure reunites Newt with Tina (Katherine Waterston), Queenie (Alison Sudol) and Jacob (Dan Fogler), but his mission will also test their loyalties as they face new perils in an increasingly dangerous and divided wizarding world.”
Fans will be thrilled to see the return of Redmayne, Waterston, Sudol and Fogler, whose characters cemented the return of Rowling’s wizarding world following the Harry Potter series ending back in 2011. Making an appearance in the upcoming film is Ezra Miller as Credence, whose fate is yet to be discovered following the ending to the first film and will make a “mysterious return.”
Zoë Kravitz will make her debut following her brief appearance in a photo in Fantastic Beasts as Leta Lestrange, a girl Newt knew from his time at Hogwarts. War and Peace actor Callum Turner will portray Newt’s “war hero and Auror” brother, Theseus Scamander and will be joined by Claudia Kim, whose unnamed character will be a “featured attraction at a wizarding circus.”
Additional cast members confirmed include: Ingvar Sigurdsson, William Nadylam, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson and Kevin Guthrie.
Rowling, who wrote the first Fantastic Beasts script, revealed in May via Twitter that the follow-up script was completed. The Harry Potter author will also be reunited with the first films director, David Yates.
Yes, I have, but I CAN'T TELL YOU ANYTHING YET, WOMAN. https://t.co/PzpjjL0OiR
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 28, 2017
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With the original Fantastic Beasts film set in New York, the untitled sequel will move from the big apple to London to Paris. And with an added magical touch, Warner Bros. also teased that “there are also some surprising nods to the Harry Potter stories that will delight fans of the books and film series.”
The follow-up to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is scheduled for release on November 16, 2018.
