Yesterday, we got our first official look at Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, in the form of a magazine cover and some great new production stills. EW have continued to reveal parts of their cover story on Warner Bros' Harry Potter spin-off, following them up with a brief synposis of sorts. This early premise teases a few interesting plot points, including the significance of Newt Scamander's 'trusty case', and America's more hostile views towards the magical community...
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 UK (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.
We've also been given some brief character descriptions in a follow-up article from EW, which have been included below. Most notably, Samantha Morton's character appears to have been identified as the villain of the piece, while it seems Dan Fogler will be playing a muggle...
Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne)
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.
Porpentina "Tina" Goldstein (Katherine Waterston)
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.
Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol)
Tina's younger sister and roommate, a big-hearted free-spirit "legilimens" who can read minds.
Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler)
An optimistic No-Maj (aka Muggle) factory worker/aspiring baker who gets introduced to the wizarding world when he meets Newt. Fun fact: He's the Harry Potter franchise's first Muggle main character.
Graves (Colin Farrell)
A powerful auror and the right-hand man of the American wizarding world's president.
Mary Lou (Samantha Morton)
The narrow-minded leader of the fanatical Second Salemers, a group looking to expose and destroy wizards and witches.
Credence (Ezra Miller)
Perhaps the cast's most mysterious character. He's Mary Lou's troubled adopted son.
Do these early tidbits pique your interest - or are you still on the fence about returning to the wizarding world? As always, be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below!
Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them hits theatres November 18, 2016.
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