Filming gets underway today on the a yet untitled sequel to J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the second of five new films set in the world of Harry Potter.
Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne returns as as Newt Scamander alongside Katherine Waterston as Auror Tina Goldstein, Alison Sudol as her sister, Queenie Goldstein and Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski, the only No-Maj in the foursome.
They’re joined by Johnny Depp as the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald and Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore – one of J.K. Rowling’s most beloved characters—decades before he becomes Headmaster at Hogwarts.
Credence, whose fate was unknown at the end of the first film, makes a mysterious return, played again by Ezra Miller.
Zoë Kravitz plays Leta Lestrange, who was glimpsed in a photo as a woman from Newt’s past; Callum Turner is the famed Theseus Scamander, a war hero and Auror, who also happens to be Newt’s older brother; and Claudia Kim plays a young woman we first meet as a featured attraction at a wizarding circus
J.K. Rowling wrote the screenplay for the film, which opens in 1927, a few months after Newt helped to unveil and capture the infamous Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. However, as he promised he would, Grindelwald 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, Albus Dumbledore.
But Dumbledore will need help from the wizard who had thwarted Grindelwald once before, his former student Newt Scamander.
The adventure reunites Newt with Tina, Queenie and Jacob, but his mission will also test their loyalties as they face new perils in an increasingly dangerous and divided wizarding world.
The film expands the wizarding world, moving from New York to London and on to Paris.
There are also some nods to the Harry Potter stories that will delight fans of the books and film series.
David Heyman, J.K. Rowling, Steve Kloves and Lionel Wigram are producing the film, with Tim Lewis, Neil Blair, Rick Senat and Danny Cohen serving as executive producers.
The new adventure is being filmed at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, which has been the cinematic home of the Wizarding World since the first Harry Potter film.
Slated for release on November 16, 2018, the film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures and is being directed by David Yates.
