The magic lives on in the world of Harry Potter. Two years after the release of the last Potter film, Warner Bros. announced that J.K. Rowling, author of the famous Potter series, will be writing the screenplay for a new series of films based on the fictional textbook, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will take place 70 years before the previous Potter films and will focus on its fictional author, “magizoologist” Newt Scamander, in his travels to discover mythological creatures. Scamander is also one of Hogwarts’ former headmasters and has a living portrait of himself hanging in the Hogwarts castle.
According to a Sept. 12, 2013 Entertainment Weekly article, Rowling felt protective of her fictional universe and found the idea of seeing Newt Scamander realized by another writer to be difficult.
The producers of the new film series plan to attract a new generation of audiences along with the returning fan base of Potter, even though the original actors and actresses may not be making appearances.
According to a Sept. 13, 2013 LA Times article, Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara plans to keep the look and feel of the new movie similar to that of the original series.
While the news of an expanding magical world is great for some fans, junior Zahra Iqbal still has not warmed up to the idea.
“I think J.K. Rowling might be an okay screenwriter, but I’m kind of worried that this movie won’t be good,” Iqbal said. “If it isn’t, all the Harry Potter fans will be let down.”
Senior Laura Bretscher is also apprehensive about the project’s success.
“I personally think she should have stopped while she was ahead,” Bretscher said. “It’s about some random character that you don’t really know, and won’t amount to the scale Harry Potter has.”
Even though an unknown character might make it hard for some Potter fans to feel excited about the new series, senior Leslie Sterling is convinced of its success.
“Since it is based on a character that we know little about and the marvelous J.K. Rowling is screenwriting it herself, I will not have to worry about the inaccuracies that plagued the other Potter movies,” Sterling said. “I want Harry Potter and the wizarding world to never stop.”
