Great news, Potterheads: J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will be not one, not two, but three movies!
Warner Bros. announced Wednesday that the Harry Potter-inspired spinoff will be a trilogy. The first film, for which Rowling will be making her screenwriting debut, will be released in 2016. The second movie will be released in 2018, and the third film won't be out until 2020.
The Fantastic Beasts movies, taking place in an extension of the beloved Rowling-created wizarding world, are based on the adventures of Newt Scamander, the fictitious author of the textbooks studied by Harry and his classmates at Hogwarts.
David Yates, director of the last four Harry Potter movies, will return for the Fantastic Beasts trilogy, reuniting with with Rowling, David Heyman, Steve Kloves and Lionel Wigram.
When Rowling, 48, initially confirmed the first Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film back in September, she made it clear it would not be a sequel or prequel to Harry Potter's story. "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," she explained, "but Newt's story will start in New York, seventy years before Harry's gets underway."
Exciting stuff, huh? Well, brace yourselves, Muggles—there's more! Rowling, who has been playfully releasing coded clues to her fans on Twitter, revealed last week that she's working on another book, too...
OK, the next riddle is... kidding. As I said (was it only 2 days ago?) I've got a novel to finish and a screenplay to tweak.
? J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 7, 2014The wizarding world lives on...always.