A Third Fantastic Beasts Movie Is Coming, Whether We Want It Or Not

A Third Fantastic Beasts Movie Is Coming, Whether We Want It Or Not

The latest film set in J.K. Rowling’s literary landscape will take place in Brazil—and revolve around a character we barely got a glimpse of in part two. Huh. Nothing iffy about those odds!

Deadline reports that Fantastic Beasts 3, to be directed by Harry Potter veteran David Yates (who also helmed the previous two Fantastic Beasts films) and co-written by Rowling and Potter regular Steve Kloves, will begin filming in spring 2020. Notably, this will be the first Fantastic Beasts entry where Rowling has shared scriptwriting duties.

While the cast that starred in 2016’s entertaining Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and 2018’s deflating Crimes of Grindelwald will be back—Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Johnny Depp (sigh), Ezra Miller, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, and Katherine Waterston—the story will have an elevated role for Jessica Williams (Booksmart, The Daily Show), who plays “Professor Eulalie ‘Lally’ Hicks, a teacher at Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the American equivalent of Hogwarts.”

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So how does an American teacher find her way to Brazil, considering Deadline lets us know that the film will be set in Rio de Janeiro? Presumably, magic has a lot to do with it; here’s hoping Rowling’s history of fumbling around when it comes to depicting other cultures won’t repeat itself here. Given Rowling’s long history of repeatedly, unabashedly stepping—perhaps even stamping—her foot into it when it comes to writing and articulating sensitive culture issues in the Potterverse, it seems incredibly likely that it will.

We’ll find out for sure when the film opens November 12, 2021.