Next week,Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Themfinally arrives in theaters. Assuming it does well (which it almost surely will), Warner Bros. has big plans for theHarry Potterspinoff franchise moving forward.J.K. Rowling, who created theHarry Potteruniverse and wrote the script forFantastic Beasts, recently confirmed the timeline for the franchise and it was potentially very revealing.
Fair warning for anyone who may not have read theHarry Potterbooks and wants to go into these movies not knowing anything, this article may contain spoilers. AuthorJ.K. Rowlingrecently spoke withVarietyand decided to reveal that thefive moviesthat are currently planned in theFantastic Beastsfranchise will span nearly two decades. Here is what she had to say.
“Originally, to tell you the truth, we said a trilogy as a placeholder. We wanted to be honest with people that it was going to be one movie, but we were feeling our way. And then there came a point in the drafting of the story where I said to David, ‘This feels like five movies.’ And I’m feeling pretty certain about that. It’s ambitious to tell it in five because we’re spanning 19 years. But I can see an arc. So, that’s how it happened, it came out of the material.”
Okay, so we need to do some math here to explain why theFantastic Beastsmovies spanning 19 years is very significant.J.K. Rowlingwas very specific about that number. The first movie takes place in 1926. That means 19 years after that would take us to 1945. That is a tremendously significant year forHarry Potter lore. Here is why.
The great wizardAlbus Dumbledore, who has already been confirmed to appear inFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2, took down thedark wizard(who was also his former best friend and lover) known as Gellert Grindelwald in 1945. Not much else is known about the event, but we do know that it happened in that year. It also just so happens thatJohnny Deppas been cast as Grindelwald for the sequel as well. So it now very much seems like this entireFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Themsaga will culminate with the famous duel between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. That is huge.
The firstFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Themtakes place in New York in 1926 and followsNewt Scamander(played byEddie Redmayne) as he tries to round up a bunch of magical creatures who manage to get loose in the city. So this first movie will probably be introducing us to the new characters and the new world this series will be taking place in, because it is very different from the Hogwarts setting of the originalHarry Pottermovies. But it is likely great news for fans that this major event in the history of the wizarding world created byJ.K. Rowlingwill likely be put to screen.Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Themopens in theaters on November 18 withFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2set for release on June 05, 2025. Both movies are being directed byDavid Yates.
