The thirst for Harry Potter content is as strong as ever, with the new sequel play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child opening to rave reviews (and a completely sold-out performance schedule) on London’s West End this summer, and its accompanying script book already topping bestseller lists. Next up for Potterheads is this fall’s prequel film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and luckily for fans, there will be plenty more onscreen adventures after that one, too.
Fantastic Beasts – starring Eddie Redmayne as magizoologist Newt Scamander – was always planned to be a trilogy, and Potter author J.K. Rowling has already finished the second movie’s screenplay. (She made her feature writing debut with the first film’s script.) Now, Warner Bros. has set a release date for that film, with Fantastic Beasts 2 due in theaters on Nov. 18, 2018.
According to Deadline, “The second movie will move deeper into an increasingly dark time for the Wizarding World, where Newt and other heroes have to decide on their allegiances.” That lines up with the murky mood that the film’s trailers have established, where Newt brings his trusty case with him to New York City, and ends up setting a bunch of magical creatures free – and potentially exposing the entire magical world.
As Rowling and her Cursed Child collaborators have proven, there’s plenty more story to mine from the Wizarding World, and Fantastic Beasts is setting itself up to be an equally rich universe, this time focusing on the previously unexplored magical community in North America. Rowling has been releasing lots of juicy background intel via Pottermore over the past few months in preparation for Fantastic Beasts’ release on Nov. 18; with film number two moving full steam ahead, we expect even more from the prolific author in the years to come.
