What in the world could possibly help us recover from this crazy election season, you ask? Nothing short of magic. Lucky for us all, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is coming to theaters everywhere this November, and the Harry Potter spinoff from JK Rowling is going to be bringing magic with it. It's already been announced that Fantastic Beasts will rival the Potter series with five planned films, assuming the first one is as big of a box office smash as expected. But, unlike the Harry Potter films, this new series is entirely original, not based on books. With the prospect of five new wizarding films ahead, the question remains: will there be more Fantastic Beasts books?
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is not based on a book, exactly, though it is inspired by a few. First and foremost, as a kind of spinoff of Harry Potter, the film is inspired by mentions of Newt Scamander, the protagonist of the new films, in the original series. The movie is also somewhat inspired by the short book Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them , written by J.K. Rowling as Newt. Originally a Hogwarts textbook, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is less of a narrative, more of, well, a textbook. But, it sets the blueprint for the new film, which follows Newt's adventure in 1920s New York City.
Following in the tradition of A Cursed Child, Rowling, who wrote the screenplay for Fantastic Beasts, will release the original screenplay in book form on the same day as the film hits theaters on Nov. 18. It seems likely that the future films should get the same treatment. So, in a way, there will be more Fantastic Beasts books, they just won't be like the Harry Potter books we all know and love.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them appears to be very much a film series, not a book series adapted into films. It's part of what attracted director David Yates, and likely other filmmakers, to the project. "What's marvelous about this series is nobody has ever read them. And they feel really fresh and we're not limited by page one to page four hundred and sixty five of something that pre-exists," Yates said in an interview with Collider. With the appeal of making original movies so strong, it certainly seems like the Fantastic Beasts series will be kept on screen.
Now, fans of Harry Potter know that Rowling does not tend to keep details of the wizarding world to herself. Just because there are no plans for official Fantastic Beasts books doesn't mean we won't get our fair share of themed short stories on Pottermore. And that should be enough to satisfy Potter fans. At least for now.
Images: Warner Bros; Giphy (2)
