Things have been quiet on the Fantastic Beasts front for a while now, but star Eddie Redmayne has just given us an update on the incoming third installment of the Wizarding World prequel series. Fantastic Beasts 3 was originally due out next year, but was pushed back until 2021 due to the middling success of The Crimes of Grindelwald forcing Warner Bros. to reconsider the direction of the franchise.
Newt Scamander himself, though, can’t wait to get started with the third movie. Speaking to ET, Redmayne was asked to spill the beans on FB3. The star reiterated info that we already knew, saying that the film will go before cameras early next year, but also that J.K. Rowling is still working on the script. He promised fans that it’ll be “really exciting” once we eventually get to see it as well.
“Well, we’re meant to start shooting in the beginning of next year. The script is still being worked on. That’s nothing — I’m literally giving you nothing! I’m trying to do that thing of talking about it and saying nothing, because of the fear of getting told off. But no, it’s happening, and it’s really exciting.”
It makes sense that Rowling is still fine-tuning her latest screenplay, as Potterheads had a lot to say about Crimes, including criticism of how it messed with established canon and its controversial depiction of a rare Asian character in the franchise. The Harry Potter creator and the studio will surely be hoping to avoid blowback for the third movie, so making sure it’s as strong as can be is only good news for fans.
Obviously, some of the negative press surrounding Fantastic Beasts goes beyond Rowling’s writing, as Johnny Depp’s role as Gellert Grindelwald in Crimes was widely criticized, which is rumored to have caused WB to consider replacing him for FB3. However, Rowling is known to support Depp’s casting and it would be difficult to write him out of the storyline after he played such a key role in the last one.
In any case, we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed that Fantastic Beasts 3 has a smooth production process and arrives in theaters to positive fanfare come November 2021.
