Warner Bros. has announced today that principal photography has begun on the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them sequel, the second instalment in a series of films set to run for five chapters.
It's been confirmed that Eddie Redmayne will return as wizarding worldmagizoologist 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. Johnny Depp is playing the villainous Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald, while Jude Law has been cast as Albus Dumbledore.
Ezra Miller's Credence is making a mysterious return, while 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. The ensemble cast also includes William Nadylam as a wizard named Yusuf Kama; Ingvar Sigurdsson as a bounty hunter named Grimmson; Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Skender, who runs the wizarding circus; and Kevin Guthrie as Abernathy, whom we met as Tina and Queenie’s boss at MACUSA (Magical Congress of the USA).
A brand new official synopsis has also been released teasing what's to come in Fantastic Beasts 2:
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 surprising nods to the Harry Potter stories that will delight fans of the books and film series.
The currently untitled Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them sequel is set to be released on November 16th, 2018 so we should start seeing much more from it shortly. Tell us, what do you think of these newly revealed details? As always, share your thoughts in the comments section below.