‘Fantastic Beasts’ script done, WB wants Eddie Redmayne to star
The Harry Potter film series will continue with a new set of three films and the studio is seeking to tap into young new talent which will carried the franchise for years. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them seems to be set to add recent Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne as the top choice among several actors to play Newt Scamander, the lead character in author JK Rowling‘s book set in the Harry Potter world.
Redmayne (Theory of Everything) is in talks for the film, confirming rumors that he will lead the film. Deadline also reports that Rowling’s first script draft has been turned in, which gives Warner Bros. something to negotiate with, and Redmayne a solid plan for the film off which to base his decision: “….a formal offer has come from Warner Bros and negotiations have begun for Redmayne.”
While Fantastic Beasts is neither a sequel nor prequel to the Harry Potter story — it is just set in the same world, 70 years before Harry Potter’s story.
David Yates, who directed the last four Potter films, is set to direct. Executive producer Lionel Wigram served as executive producer on the last four films, and producer Steve Kloves scripted seven out of the eight Potter films movies.
David Heyman, who produced all eight previous Harry Potter films, will produce the Fantastic Beasts series, which will consist of “at least” three movies.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will be set in New York City circa 1920, about seventy years before the start of the Harry Potter series. The first film will follow the adventures of Newt Scamander, a “magizoologist” whose writings on magical creatures would go on to become required reading for Hogwarts students. It’s currently set for release November 18, 2016 with the next two installments are dated for 2018 and 2019.
