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Credit: Warner Bros.More information has surfaced about the fate of Warner Bros.’s ill-fated Fantastic Beasts franchise, with one of its leading stars addressing the future of the series.
It’s been over 20 years since J.K. Rowling published “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” and changed pop culture forever. All around the globe, readers were captured by Harry, Ron, and Hermione and their adventures at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Harry Potter reached new heights thanks to Warner Bros.’s successful billion-dollar movie series, and despite being tarnished by major controversies over the years, it remains one of the most beloved entities in the world.
Outside of the Rowling discourse, Harry Potter is not untouchable at the box office. The spinoff Fantastic Beasts series includes the worst-performing Wizarding World movie to date, 2022’s The Secrets of Dumbledore, and has since been scrubbed from Warner Bros. development slate. Now, one of its leading stars has spoken out about the future of the spinoff.
What began relatively positively with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) quickly took a downward turn with its sequels, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.
At first, hindered by a choppy narrative and canon-changing lore, the series received increasing scrutiny for replacing Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald during his legal troubles with ex-wife Amber Heard, as well as J.K. Rowling’s—who scribed the films—persistent commentary on transgender issues and feminism.
It was in 2022, after The Secrets of Dumbledore did just $407 million at the box office, that Variety reported that Warner Bros. had no further Fantastic Beasts movies in development, despite J.K. Rowling stating in 2016 that the series would be five movies long.
A year after Variety‘s notice, director David Yates said the series had been “parked,” while in 2024, Newt Scamander and Albus Dumbledore actors Eddie Redmayne and Jude Law addressed its future in separate interviews. The former saying, as far as he is aware, “that’s it,” with the latter starting that it’s certainly “on hold.”
Now, another leading star has weighed in with her comments. Katherine Waterston played Tina Goldstein in all three movies despite getting a significantly pared-down role in the latest installment. The actress recently spoke to NME, confirming she is still contracted for more.
“The last two films probably won’t get made, but that’s only based on a gut feeling,” Waterston said. “I know nothing, and I’d probably be one of the last to know if something was happening because, with films of that size, people aren’t calling up the performers to keep them updated.”
“Do contracts expire?” the actress questioned. “I’ve never thought about that before, but they probably do at some point, right? At the moment, we are bound to them, but I think that ship has sailed.”
It is unlikely that Warner Bros. will return to this Harry Potter prequel era, not just because of its box office failings but because it is gearing up to reboot the franchise with an all-new big-budget TV series on HBO. Produced over ten years, and with one season dedicated to each of the seven books, this is a major new addition to the Wizarding World canon. The first season is expected in 2026.
In June this year, Francesca Gardiner was announced to be the series’ showrunner, with Mark Mylod announced as director and an executive producer. David Heyman, who produced the Harry Potter film series, was also announced as an executive producer. J.K. Rowling will also be part of the creative process.
“HBO chief Casey Bloys told reporters at a press event on Nov. 12 that Rowling was ‘very, very involved in the process selecting the writer and the director,’ and her anti-trans statements ‘haven’t affected the casting or hiring of writers or productions staff’ for the show,” Variety reported.
Whatever the future holds for the boy wizard on the big and small screen, the fact that the franchise is still being invested in is a testament to the cornerstone of pop culture entertainment it still is.
Further afield, fans will soon be able to step into a new part of the Wizarding World when Universal Destinations & Experiences opens its Epic Universe park in Orlando, Florida, and debuts the new Ministry of Magic expansion.
How do you feel about the future of the Harry Potter and the Fantastic Beasts franchises? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!