In honor of the 37th birthday of the boy who lived, here are some quick updates from Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts, and the Wizarding World.
Filming of the untitled sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is currently under way, with an expected release date of November 16, 2018. The film is set in 1927, months after Newt helped in the capture of dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald.
According to Pottermore, Grindelwald will “make a dramatic escape” from MACUSA custody, forcing Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) to join the wizarding world’s efforts to stop him. Dumbledore will look to his former student Newt for help, traveling from New York to London to Paris to stop the dark wizard.
Newt will also be joined by Queenie (Alison Sudol) and Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), as well as No-Maj Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler). They will encounter some new characters, including Grimmson, a bounty hunter, a wizard called Yusuf Kama, and Skender, the owner of a wizarding circus.
Warner Bros. also confirmed that Callum Turner will appear as Newt’s older brother, Theseus Scamander. Zoë Kravitz is returning as Leta Lestrange, who was featured in a magical photograph in the first film. Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller), the Obscurial who seemingly blew up at the end of Fantastic Beasts, is set to return “in a mysterious way.”
There is also a new, illustrated edition of the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them book being published in November. This new edition includes full-color versions of every beast featured in the textbook, illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill, which was originally ‘written’ by Newt Scamander, via J.K. Rowling, back in 2001.
Finally, J.K. Rowling is releasing two new Harry Potter books in October, in conjunction with an exhibition at the British Library called The History of Magic, which will run from October 2017 to February 2018.
Harry Potter: A History of Magic – The Book of the Exhibition explores the curriculum of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, including Herbology, Astronomy, and Care of Magical Creatures. Harry Potter – A Journey Through A History of Magic will cover subjects like unicorns, alchemy, and ancient magic.
