A new trailer for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has arrived and fans can get a full picture of what the wizarding world was like in 1920s America. The film is based on the 2001 novel of the same name by J.K. Rowling and is a prequel to the Harry Potter series.
In the trailer, Newt Scamander (played by Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne) makes his way to New York with two smuggled creatures in tow that have magical powers. (He accomplishes this by making his suitcase “muggle worthy.”) When one of the magical creatures manages to escape, American Auror Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) is tasked to make things right.
The trailer name-checks Albus Dumbledore and hints that he was close to Scamander’s character. In a voiceover, someone can be heard asking: “What makes Albus Dumbledore so fond of you, Mr. Scamander?”
In addition to Redmayne and Farrell, the film stars Katherine Waterston as Tina, Dan Fogler as Jacob, and Alison Sudol as Queenie. The ensemble cast includes Ezra Miller, Samantha Morton, Jon Voight, Ron Perlman, Carmen Ejogo, Jenn Murray and Faith Wood-Blagrove.
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opens in 1926 as Newt Scamander has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures,” reads the official synopsis of the film. “Arriving in New York for a brief stopover, he might have come and gone without incident…were it not for a No-Maj (American for Muggle) named Jacob, a misplaced magical case, and the escape of some of Newt’s fantastic beasts, which could spell trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj worlds.”
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is the first film in the trilogy and will debut in theaters on Nov. 18. The second and third installment will arrive in theaters in 2018 and 2020.
