Warner Bros. held a global fan event for the upcomingHarry Potterspin-offFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which moves the magical action across the pond to America, set 70 years before the events of theHarry Potterbooks and movies. AuthorJ.K. Rowlingmade the surprise announcement at the event that there will actually be fiveFantastic Beastsmovies, two more than the trilogy that had already been announced. Shortly after the event, the author took to Twitter, where she teased why this new franchise needs to be expanded.
J.K. Rowlingwas bombarded with questions on Twitter shortly after the fan event, but one of her responses was most intriguing, teasing there is a much bigger story to be told. One fan asked onTwitterwhether or not five movies was “too much” to be based off of one book, which the author had quite the cryptic response for. Here’s what the author had to say below.
“I think, when you realize what story we’re really telling, you’ll understand that it can’t possibly fit in one movie!”
As part of yesterday’s event, fans got to see an exclusiveIMAX sneak peekforFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which offered a hint at one very interesting story line. The preview featured a brief shot of a newspaper article about the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, whileJ.K. Rowlingteased in the video that this movie will make connections to theHarry Potteruniverse that fans will find “surprising,” with the story dealing with a wizard who “threatened a world order.” While we never did see Gellert Grindelwald in the originalHarry Pottermovies, he was certainly referenced in those stories.
It was established in the originalHarry Potterstories that Gellert Grindelwald was once friends withHogwartsheadmaster Albus Dumbledore, who both had an interest in finding the Deathly Hallows at one point in time. They were both instrumental in the International Statute of Secrecy, which allowed both the wizarding world and the muggle world to co-exist in secret. DirectorDavid Yatesconfirmed during the fan event that Grindelwald will be featured in the background ofFantastic Beasts, although it’s possible he could have a larger role later on. We don’t know who has been cast as this wizard quite yet, and it isn’t known if the studio will reveal any further details as we get closer to the November 18 release date.
AfterFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,Fantastic Beasts 2will hit theaters on August 18, 2025, withFantastic Beasts 3expected to round out thisspin-off trilogyin 2020. No release dates have been given for the fourth and fifth movies at this time. Take a look atJ.K. Rowling’s tweets about the extendedFantastic Beastsfranchise below.
