Fantastic Beasts sequel to (magically) appear in theaters on November 2018

The sold-out run for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and the record-breaking sales of its script book are proof that the Potterverse resurgence is well and truly upon us. JK Rowling's return to the wizarding world doesn't end there. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, an original movie based on a script by the author, opens in cinemas later this year. Warner Bros. is happy to keep mining the magic as the studio today announced plans for a sequel. 

It's been rumored for some time that Fantastic Beasts would be the first in a trilogy. Clearly the studio is confident in the flick, as Rowling is hard at work on a script for the second instalment that's due to arrive in theaters on November 16, 2018.

Eddie Redmayne stars in the franchise as magizoologist Newt Scamander, a character fleetingly mentioned in the original Potter novels as the author of a Hogwarts textbook. It's his adventures set decades before Harry's tale begins that's the focus of the Fantastic Beasts trilogy. The first film due out this November follows Scamander as he journeys to New York City in the 1920s, and accidentally unleashes a suitcase of creatures. 

According to Variety, the sequel “moves deeper into an increasingly dark time for the wizarding world, where Newt and our other heroes have to decide on their allegiances.”  

Directed by David Yates and starring Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Farrell, Samantha Morton, Jon Voight, Gemma Chan, Ron Perlman and Ezra Miller, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is scheduled to arrive in UK and US cinemas on November 18, 2016.  

Images: Warner Bros  

Gem Seddon

Gem Seddon is GamesRadar+'s west coast Entertainment News Reporter, working to keep all of you updated on all of the latest and greatest movies and shows on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Outside of entertainment journalism, Gem can frequently be found writing about the alternative health and wellness industry, and obsessing over all things Aliens and Terminator on Twitter.