It’s time to break out the pumpkin juice or butter beer. JK Rowling has inked a deal to write a new screenplay that will take place in the world she created for Harry Potter. If you listen closely, you’ll hear the screams of thousands as if Hogwarts won the international magic school Quidditch cup.

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According to Reuters, the screenplay will focus on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a side book Rowling wrote as a companion to the Harry Potter world as a textbook assigned to Harry and other students at Hogwarts. Rowling stated in an email from Warner Bros., the studio who greenlit the film, “”I always said that I would only revisit the wizarding world if I had an idea that I was really excited about and this is it.”

Time Magazine already put together a nice article of what the film might cover based on the book. For sure, the creator of the textbook, magizoologist Newton Scamander, will be a part of it allowing for Rowling to cast someone new. More interesting is that the film will be 70 years before the story we know and start in New York. Since the book has a “publishing date” of 1927 and a setting of New York to begin with, it’s possible that the screen might be lit up with some Jazz Age magic much in the vein of Baz Luhrmann‘s The Great Gatsby.

Although Scamander is not American, it’s interesting that the film may start in America since Rowling resisted featuring any American magic school in the books or endorsed any American actors to be in her films keeping it mainly a British production overall. Of course, since many fine British actors can do a great American accent, she may still keep it within her realm.

The character of Scamander has remained a favorite of the author as she stated, “As hard-core Harry Potter fans will know, I liked him so much that I even married his grandson, Rolf, to one of my favorite characters from the Harry Potter series, Luna Lovegood.” This brings up a good point that the timeline for the film will not match up with the characters we know and love.

Entertainment Weekly made an interesting point in their article about what could be included in the film. With the film 70 years prior to the setting in the books, we could encounter a young Dumbledore in his 30’s. There are lots of beasts that we’ve encountered in the books that we could get a closer look at in the film, which can take advantage of the advances in special effects since the first Harry Potter film.

Rowling’s first screenplay has a lot of speculation and wishes floating around it right now. The biggest excitement is the return – any return – to the Harry Potter world. If all goes well, perhaps it could encourage Rowling to return to the world through her writing.

Many have been having fun with Twitter hashtags #FantasticBeasts and #themagiccontinues. Perhaps my favorite celebrity reaction has been from screenwriter and producer Damon Lindelof who tweeted the following:


As a huge Harry Potter fan, I’m excited that Rowling’s first step back into the world is a sideways one that isn’t directly related. It means it can open a whole new area and time to explore. All the buzz the announcement has made just proves what endurance the magic that Rowling created still has.

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