J.K. Rowling Returns - This Time With Some Magical Creatures!

Here is some awesome news for all you wizard fans - The Harry Potter series may have concluded, but its author J.K. Rowling is nowhere near done telling stories about its magical world. This time around she is heading to tinsel town as screenwriter for a new film series that is based on a textbook that may ring a bell to the most avid Harry Potter fans - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a required reading for the young wizard when he entered Hogwarts.

Based on the book that the acclaimed author released in 2001 to benefit the UK charity, Comic Relief, the new series is neither a prequel nor sequel to Rowling’s universally popular Harry Potter drama . Set in New York it is about events that occurred 70 years before the Harry Potter saga began. Having said that, we can expect the traditions and rules of the magical world to be quite similar to those found in our favorite series.

After all, that was the textbook Harry referred to and was also one where many of the magical beasts like the Doxy (the evil biting fairies with venomous teeth that infested the curtains at 12 Grimmauld Place in 'Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix') and the Pygmy Puffs (the pink and purple hedgehog-like creature that Ginny purchased from Fred and George's joke shop in 'Harry Potter And the Half Blood Prince') were first introduced!

Purportedly 'written' in 1927 by Newt Scamander, the former Hogwarts headmaster who made his appearance in the inaugural Sorcerer’s Stone, the book is all about magizoology - the study of magical creatures. The storyline follows Newt who grew up with a fascination for hippogriffs, the horse/eagle combination that Harry encounters in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. After spending a number of years at the ministry of magic, the naturalist decides to travel the world in search of other magical creatures. Over his ten year quest, he discovers 75 of them, all of which are detailed in the book, which proves to be a 'worldwide' bestseller and already in its 52nd edition by the time Potter gets his hands on it, in 2001.

Rowling has said that part of the reason she took on the project as screenwriter was because she couldn't imagine another writer building on the character of Newt. And while Harry, Hermione and Ron will probably not be in the movie (though they do a lot of 'doodling' on it), don't be surprised to see Albus Dumbledore who did write the foreword for the book. Also possible is an appearance by the whimsical Luna Lovegood who as it turns out, is married to Newt's grandson, Rolf!
Resources: usatoday.com,insidemovies.ew.com,latimes.com