Which film series did J.K. Rowling write beginning with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?

J.K. Rowling wrote the screenplay for the Fantastic Beasts film series, beginning with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

The first film was released in 2016 and was inspired by Rowling’s 2001 charity companion book of the same name. The story follows magizoologist Newt Scamander in 1920s New York, decades before the main Harry Potter storyline.

Unlike the Harry Potter films, the Fantastic Beasts movies were not direct adaptations of a series of Rowling novels. Rowling wrote the screenplays for the first three films, which expanded the wizarding world through characters such as Gellert Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore.

The series is sometimes mistaken for a book-to-film adaptation because its first title matches the companion book. However, the films developed a separate narrative and historical period. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was followed by The Crimes of Grindelwald in 2018 and The Secrets of Dumbledore in 2022.