Deadline has confirmed that production on the still untitled Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them sequel began today at Leavesden Studios just outside of London. Along with this announcement, they also provide readers with the first plot synopsis of the film, supplied to them by Warner Bros. Pictures, which offers up the first revealing details on its story.
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.
As previously announced, Jude Law has been cast in the part of Albus Dumbledore, and will join returning cast members Eddie Redmayne (as magizoologist Newt Scamdander), Katherine Waterston (as auror Tina Goldstein), Alison Sudol (as Queenie Goldstein), Dan Fogler (as the No-Maj Jacob Kowalski), Johnny Depp (as Gellert Grindelwald), and Ezra Miller (as the obscurus Credence). In addition to them, however, Warner Bros. announced a plethora of new cast members today, which they released long with the above plot synopsis. They include: Zoë Kravitz (as Leta Lestrange, Newt’s old flame), Callum Turner (as Theseus Scamander, a war hero Auror and Newt’s older brother), Claudia Kim (as a young woman who is the featured attraction at a wizarding circus), William Nadyan (as Yusuf Kama), Ingvar Sigurdsson (as the bounty hunter Grimmson), Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (as Skender, who runs a wizarding circus), and Kevin Guthrie (as Abernathy, Tina and Queenie’s boss at MACUSA).
Currently, there is still no word on whether or not the fan-favorite Niffler and Bowtruckle that inhabit Newt’s magical briefcase will be making a return, but given how popular they were in the first movie, I’d wager it’s a pretty safe bet.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2 is currently slated for release on November 16th, 2018, and will be the second installment of a five-chapter saga.
Are you excited for Fantastic Beasts 2? Are you intrigued by the new story details and cast announcements? Let me know in the comments below!
