Which J.K. Rowling screenplay introduced Newt Scamander in the Harry Potter universe?
Answer
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
J.K. Rowling’s screenplay Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them introduced Newt Scamander in the Harry Potter universe.
The film was released in 2016 and marked Rowling’s screenwriting debut. It is set in 1926, decades before Harry Potter begins his education at Hogwarts. Eddie Redmayne plays Newt Scamander, a British magizoologist who arrives in New York with a case containing magical creatures.
The title comes from a fictional Hogwarts textbook credited to Newt Scamander. Rowling had previously published a short companion book with that title in 2001 for charity. The film expands the brief textbook concept into a story involving magical creatures, American wizarding society, and the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald.
The film began a planned series of prequel stories. Its sequels are Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. Newt is not Harry’s contemporary; he belongs to an earlier generation of the wizarding world.