Eddie Redmayne, who just won the Oscar for playing Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything,” may have a few more magic tricks up his sleeve. Variety has reported that Redmayne is the favorite to play Newt Scamander in Warner Bros.’ hotly anticipated “Harry Potter” spinoff “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”
J.K. Rowling is making her screenwriting debut on the trilogy.
Redmayne recently wrapped Tom Hooper’s “The Danish Girl” and has yet to receive an official offer. Director David Yates is said to be considering a few other actors for the part but Redmayne, according to sources, is the frontrunner. WB has made no comment on the story.
Set in New York roughly seven decades before Harry Potter’s saga starts, “Fantastic Beasts” is based on the Hogwarts textbook of the same name and follows the adventures of its author, Newt Scamander. Scamander is described as a “magiczoologist,” which in the “Harry Potter” realm is a person who studies magical creatures. Besides Scamander, there are four other main roles — two American girls and two American boys — that the studio is currently looking to cast.
“Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for 17 years, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the ‘Harry Potter’ series but an extension of the wizarding world,” Rowling explained of the trilogy.
