With a worldwide haul of $812 million to its name, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them earned its stripes as a bankable franchise-starter for Warner Bros., even if the David Yates-directed spinoff failed to spellbind moviegoers in quite the same fashion as the core Harry Potter saga. And let’s be honest, there aren’t many that can.
But with tentative plans in place for a full-blown Fantastic Beasts franchise, one that will take a leaf out of Harry Potter‘s book when it comes to titles, Warner is pushing full steam ahead. Building on the momentum from her screenwriting debut on the 2016 fantasy flick, series mastermind J.K. Rowling is in the process of ironing out a script for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2 along with the returning David Yates.
A 2018 release date is locked in, indicating that the fantastical sequel will be summoned before the cameras sooner rather than later. And though the fiery relationship between the young Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald – the latter of whom will be played by Johnny Depp – will be focused on quite heavily here, it seems the “complex relationship” between Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and Leta Lestrange (Zoë Kravitz) will unfold across multiple movies.
Chatting to Collider in anticipation of her role in HBO’s upcoming Big Little Lies, Kravitz teased that there are a “few” Fantastic Beasts movies in the pipeline for her elusive Lestrange.
“I think there’s a few ahead. The relationship between Leta and Newt Scamander is a complex relationship, so I think there will be a lot of time for that to grow and develop, which will be fun.”
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2 is set for November 16th, 2018. Meanwhile, Big Little Lies made its small screen bow last month, and you can find our official verdict right here.
