With just under a year and a half until Newt Scamander returns to the big screen, Warner Bros. have announced their first official synopsis, along with the news that principal photography has already begun, for the sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
The second instalment of the five-film franchise will continue just months after the events of Fantastic Beasts, continuing to expand the Wizarding World past New York into London, and then onto Paris.
It will see the return of many old faces alongside some new introductions, but loyalties will be tested as they “face new perils in an increasingly dangerous and divided wizarding world.”
The sequel follows Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp), after he: “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 (Jude Law). But Dumbledore will need help from the wizard who had thwarted Grindelwald once before, his former student Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne).”
“The adventure reunites Newt with Tina (Katherine Waterston), Queenie (Alison Sudol) and Jacob (Dan Fogler)”, the statement reveals, as well as announcing the “mysterious return” of Credence, once again played by Ezra Miller. Zoë Kravitz, seen in a photograph in Fantastic Beasts, will play Leta Lestrange.
The statement also announces a crowd of newcomers, including Callum Turner as Newt’s brother Theseus, a “war hero and Auror”. Also joining are Claudia Kim, first seen as an act in a wizarding circus, and Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Skender, the circus’ owner, as well as William Nadylam, Ingvar Sigurdsson, and Kevin Guthrie.
J.K. Rowling has returned to write the script, with David Yates again seated in the director’s chair.
The sequel to Fantastic Beasts will be released in UK cinemas on 16th November 2018. Watch a trailer for the first film below:
