Which J.K. Rowling screenplay introduced the wizarding-world character Newt Scamander in 2016?

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them introduced Newt Scamander in J.K. Rowling’s 2016 screenplay and its film adaptation.

The film follows Newt Scamander, a magizoologist who arrives in 1920s New York with a case of magical creatures. It expands the wizarding world beyond Harry Potter’s school years and places the story decades before the original series.

The title is shared with a 2001 charity companion book presented as a Hogwarts textbook. The 2016 film is not a direct adaptation of a conventional Rowling novel; Rowling wrote the original screenplay, using the textbook title as the basis for a new story.

The film began a trilogy centered on Newt and the wider conflict involving Gellert Grindelwald. Its screenplay marked Rowling’s first produced film script.