Last year's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them took audiences back to Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling's wizarding world. Production is underway on the as-yet-untitled sequel and Warner Bros. has released details that have Potter fans buzzing. Here's the rundown from Mashable...
Returning cast includes Eddie Redmayne as Magizoologist Newt Scamander, Katherine Waterston as American Auror Tina Goldstein, Alison Sudol as her sister Queenie, Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski, Johnny Depp as dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, Ezra Miller as Credence, Zoë Kravitz as Leta Lestrange, and Kevin Guthrie as Abernathy.
The story will introduce young Albus Dumbledore, played by Jude Law, and Scamander's older brother Theseus, a war hero and Auror. The studio's official synopsis describes the story as follows:
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 past relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald was hinted at in the Harry Potter books and movies and has been the subject of much debate, so fans will be eager to find out more and to see the two characters interact.
Other cool details gleaned from the press release and casting notices include moving the action to London and Paris, the involvement of a magical circus, and a bounty hunter named Grimmson.
The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them sequel is set to open November 16, 2018.