You can't keep a good wizard down, even when he's technically not even around. J.K. Rowling is returning to the world of Harry Potter with an adaptation of her monster textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and while the basic plot has been known we're starting to get many more details thanks to EW.
Eddie Redmayne stars as magizoologist Newt Scamander, who we know arrives in New York 70 years prior to Harry Potter's birth to catalog amazing creatures. But there's more to it than that, as revealed in this expanded synopsis geared totally for fans of the Wizarding World...
"Eccentric magizoologist Newt Scamander comes to New York (for a reason we won’t disclose) with his trusty weathered case. This case is one of those way-way-way-bigger-on-the-inside magical devices, and within are expansive habitats for a collection of rare and endangered magical creatures from Newt’s travels around globe. He discovers the American wizarding community is fearfully hiding from Muggles (who are called “No-Maj” in the US) and the threat of public exposure is an even graver concern than in the U.K. (remember the Salem witch trials?). Fantastic Beasts is the story of what happens when this uniquely skilled English wizard travels to wiz-phobic America and a variety of his creatures, some quite dangerous,… get out of their case."
There are also descriptions for much of the film's cast of magical and non-magical characters, starting with Scamander, of course:
"An eccentric globe-hopping English “magizoologist” wizard who’s far more comfortable around beasts and creatures than he is around other people. Comes to New York on a quest with his case full of magical habitats containing rare and endangered species."
Katherine Waterston as Porpentina "Tina" Goldstein: "An ambitious worker at the Magical Congress of the United States of America [aka MACUSA, the U.S. version of the Ministry of Magic] who meets Newt. Tina is relegated to an office well below her abilities after she stood up for the wrong person. She longs to fight for what’s right."
Alison Sudol as Queenie Goldstein: "Tina’s younger sister and roommate, a big-hearted free-spirit “legilimens” who can read minds."
Dan Fogler as the franchise's first major Muggle character, Jacob Kowalski: "An optimistic No-Maj factory worker/aspiring baker who gets introduced to the wizarding world when he meets Newt."
Colin Farrell as Graves: "A powerful auror and the right-hand man of the American wizarding world’s president."
Samantha Morton as Mary Lou: "The narrow-minded leader of the fanatical Second Salemers, a group looking to expose and destroy wizards and witches."
Ezra Miller as Credence: "Perhaps the cast’s most mysterious character. He’s Mary Lou’s troubled adopted son."
Directed by David Yates, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opens November 18th 2016.
