Saoirse Ronan and Kate Upton head up shortlist for Harry Potter spinoff

With Eddie Redmayne all but officially confirmed for the lead role in Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them attention has turned to his two female co-stars. Judging by the shortlist revealed by The Wrap, every young actress in Hollywood is vying for one of the roles.

Saoirse Ronan, Dakota Fanning, Lili Simmons and Alison Sudol are in the running for the part of Queenie with Kate Upton, Katherine Waterston and Elizabeth Debicki reportedly being considered to play Queenie’s older sister, Tina. As yet no formal offers have been made and most of the actresses listed will be expected to test for the part opposite Redmayne this week.

Set some 70 years before the events in the Harry Potter series, this New York-set spinoff follows the magical zoologist Newt Scamander (Redmayne) during the 1920s. J.K. Rowling penned the script which lifts its inspiration from the Hogwarts textbook spotted and cited in the Potter films.

Directed by four-time Potter helmer David Yates, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is scheduled to arrive on November 18, 2016.

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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.