The Harry Potter author is returning to the world of witchcraft and fantasy again.
The first book in the new series is called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which Rowling will adapt for her first-ever screenplay:
The film will center on Newt Scamander, who explored the wizarding world long before Harry's exploits. The press release adds that some of the new film's wizards and witches "will be familiar to devoted to Harry Potter fans."
In a statement, Rowling explained how her return to the Harry Potter universe came together:
It all started when Warner Bros. came to me with the suggestion of turning Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them into a film. I thought it was a fun idea, but the idea of seeing Newt Scamander, the supposed author of Fantastic Beasts, realized by another writer was difficult. Having lived for so long in my fictional universe, I feel very protective of it and I already knew a lot about Newt. As hard-core Harry Potter fans will know, I liked him so much that I even married his grandson, Rolf, to one of my favorite characters from the Harry Potter series, Luna Lovegood.
As I considered Warners’ proposal, an idea took shape that I couldn’t dislodge. That is how I ended up pitching my own idea for a film to Warner Bros.
But Rowling also cautioned audiences against treating Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them as a full-blown extension of the Harry Potter universe:
Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for seventeen years, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world. 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, but Newt’s story will start in New York, seventy years before Harry’s gets underway.
It sounds like a prequel to me, but with Hollywood desperate for hits, it sounds like a winner, especially if the book sells. It probably will, since J.K. Rowling is one fine storyteller.
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