Which J.K. Rowling screenplay introduced the magical zoologist Newt Scamander?

J.K. Rowling’s screenplay Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them introduced the magical zoologist Newt Scamander.

The 2016 film is set decades before the Harry Potter story and follows Newt Scamander during a visit to 1920s New York. Magical creatures escape from his case, drawing him into a conflict involving American magical authorities and a dangerous force connected with Gellert Grindelwald.

Rowling wrote the screenplay herself. Although the film shares the Wizarding World setting, it is not a direct adaptation of a conventional Rowling novel. Its title comes from a fictional Hogwarts textbook that appears in the Harry Potter books and is credited in-universe to Newt Scamander.

The film began a planned series centered on Newt and the history of the wizarding world. Eddie Redmayne played Newt Scamander, while the production expanded the franchise beyond Harry, Ron, and Hermione.