Big News, 'Harry Potter' Fans!

All you Harry Potter fans better get your cloaks and Quidditch gear ready, because there's a new wizard coming to town, i.e., the big screen. According to Deadline, Academy Award winning actor, Eddie Redmayne, "has been set to play Newt Scamander in the Harry Potter prequel Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them" which is due out November 2016. Although we would love to see Danielle Radcliffe (who portrayed Harry Potter in the bestselling series' movie adaptations) and co. make an appearance in the prequel, that likely won't be so considering that Scamander was a wizard from the 1800s and the film is set to "...[take] place 70 years before the Harry Potter films." Still, you couldn't ask for a better choice to play the acclaimed author of wizardry than Redmayne. The Harry Potter films showcased some inimitable acting chops from its cast, and after seeing Redmayne's poignant performance in The Theory of Everything, there's no doubt he's up for the task of continuing the franchise's legacy.

As thrilled as fans are going to be for the movie's release (why does 2016 have to feel so far away?), Redmayne himself is likely ecstatic over the casting news. Earlier this year, Redmayne bemoaned — albeit, hilariously — during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show that he wasn't cast in any of the Harry Potter films. "Oh god, for a few years there, there were the Harry Potter films… there was a whole family of ginger people and I thought that somehow I might be a part of that at some point,” he said of the films. "But that never happened."

Well, it looks like it's happening now...big time. And I can't wait!