Work on Fantastic Beasts 3 is officially underway. J.K. Rowling has announced that she has begun writing the script for the third installment of the Harry Potter spin-off series. This comes ahead of the release of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, which arrives in theaters later this year. Not surprisingly, Warner Bros. has faith that the sequel will bring in some decent money at the box office and thus, Rowling is already plugging away at the next installment in the franchise.
J.K. Rowling made the announcement via a post to her official website. The author was answering some frequently asked fan questions, one of which had to do with what she is currently writing. Among other things, she revealed that she's working on the screenplay for Fantastic Beasts 3. Here's what she had to say about it.
"I've just finished the fourth Galbraith novel, Lethal White, and I'm now writing the screenplay for Fantastic Beasts 3. After that I'll be writing another book for children. I've been playing with the (non-Harry Potter/wizarding world) story for about six years, so it's about time I get it down on paper."
It's obvious that Rowling likes to stay busy. Beyond revealing that she's writing the script, not much else has been revealed about the third Fantastic Beasts movie yet. That, in no small part, has to do with the fact that Fantastic Beasts 2 hasn't yet arrived in theaters and even something as simple as an official title for the next movie could serve as a pretty major spoiler. So, at least for now, Harry Potter fans will just have to rest with the knowledge that Rowling and Warner Bros. aren't ready to call it quits in the wizarding world any time soon.
The Crimes of Grindelwald will see Eddie Redmayne return as Newt Scamander, whom we're likely to be following for the duration of this franchise. This upcoming installment will also see the introduction of Jude Law as a young Dumbledore. While the casting choice seems pretty on point, some, such as actor Ian McKellen, have expressed disappointment in the fact that director David Yates has revealed Dumbledore's sexuality won't explicitly be addressed in the movie. Perhaps by the time Fantastic Beasts 3 rolls around Warner Bros. won't be so shy about including a gay character and, assuming Dumbledore returns, maybe that can be addressed in the next movie. Better late than never.
Even though Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them wasn't quite as big as most of the Harry Potter movies, it still managed to bring in $814 million at the box office and has kept the franchise alive. J.K. Rowling has said that she has a five-movie arc planned out so, if all goes well, we will be seeing several more of these movies. Maybe by that time someone will have convinced her to bring Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to the big screen, but don't get your hopes up. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald arrives in theaters on November 16. This news comes to us courtesy of JKRowling.com