Here is everything we know about the new Harry Potter movies

It’s been thirteen years since Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone hit theaters and eighteen years since the book was initially published. While I now feel incredibly ancient doing the math, I have good news for all my Harry Potter diehard fans and muggles: three Harry Potter spin-off films are currently in production! That’s right. We haven’t seen the last of our wondrous magical, wizarding world yet. According to the Los Angeles Times, “[J.K. Rowling] has a vision of this extension of the franchise, and for the first time, she is writing the script for what she believes is at least a trilogy.” The movies will be based on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a very important Hogwarts textbook.

We obviously have some very important questions. What will these films be about? Where will they be filmed? Will Dumbledore ever find a butterscotch Bertie Bott’s Every Flavored Bean? WHAT IS GOING ON?

So, here’s the deal. The movies will follow a magizoologist named Newt Scamander. The films will be “neither prequels nor sequels and will take place about seven decades before Harry and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley enter Hogwarts.” So, the really sad news is that we’re most likely not going to see our fave wizard crew in this film.

The GOOD news is that David Yates, who directed the last two Harry Potter movies, will be returning for this new project. Also? There are going to be a TON of magical creatures. We’re expecting to see the mischievous Pixies (who ran amok in The Chamber of Secrets and abandoned poor Neville Longbottom hanging on a chandelier), Trolls, Phoenixes (whom we all know are very helpful when there is a wizard-thirsty Basilisk around), Centaurs, Merpeople, Werewolves (RIP Professor Lupin!), Hippogriffs, and of course Basilisks, because we need a good, villainous super-snake around to keep us on our toes, right?

The first film of the trilogy is set seventy years before Harry’s time, in 1920s New York. American wizards and witches represent!

These films are set to come in 2016, 2018, and 2020. So prepare yourself. Reread your Harry Potters (as if you needed me to suggest that!), have an epic Harry Potter movie marathon, and REJOICE!

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