Which film series did J.K. Rowling launch as screenwriter with Fantastic Beasts?

J.K. Rowling launched the Fantastic Beasts film series as its screenwriter.

The series began with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, released in 2016. Rowling wrote the screenplay, making it her screenwriting debut. The film is set in the same fictional Wizarding World as Harry Potter but takes place decades earlier and begins in New York City rather than at Hogwarts.

Newt Scamander is the central character, and Eddie Redmayne plays him. The story expands the magical setting beyond Britain, introducing American magical institutions and historical figures such as Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald in later films.

The title echoes a Hogwarts textbook attributed to Newt Scamander in the Harry Potter books. The film series is not a direct adaptation of a full Rowling novel; its screenplays were written for cinema.