Harry Potter author JK Rowling has revealed plans to write scripts for at least four further Fantastic Beasts films. The first instalment, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will be released in cinemas on 17 November.
The 51-year-old revealed the exciting news at a fan event on Thursday evening, which was held at Cineworld's Empire Imax cinema in London’s Leicester Square, alongside lead actor Eddie Redmayne and director David Yates.
"We always knew it was going to be more than one movie, and we said a trilogy as a placeholder," she told the audience. "But I’ve done the plotting properly and I'm pretty sure it's going to be five movies."
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JK Rowling has revealed plans to write scripts for at least four further Fantastic Beasts films
Speaking about the franchise, Redmayne, 34, said JK Rowling "has the most extraordinary imagination of our generation and she has created something entirely different. That world is spilling out of her head in a unique way."
The author later took to her Twitter page to clarify the news and said she will be penning the script, by tweeting: "Not 'at least' Five. Five movies." She later added: "I'm the screenwriter. Currently putting the finishing touches to the second one."
Fantastic Beasts actor Eddie Redmayne said JK Rowling "has the most extraordinary imagination of our generation"
Fantastic Beasts, which is set prior to the events of the Harry Potter series in 1920's New York City, follows magizoologist Newt Scamander (played by Redmayne) after he accidentally releases a host of magical creatures and attempts to round them up before they wreak havoc in the city.
Described as an outsider and "a bit awkward", Newt was once a student at Hogwarts but was expelled for endangering human life with a beast.
A brief synopsis for the darker sequel was recently released, it read: "The second Fantastic Beasts movie moves deeper into an increasingly dark time for the wizarding world, where Newt and our other heroes have to decide on their allegiances."