Which J.K. Rowling screenplay introduced the wizarding world’s magizoologist Newt Scamander?

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them introduced Newt Scamander as a major screen character.

Released in 2016, the film was written by J.K. Rowling and directed by David Yates. Eddie Redmayne plays Newt Scamander, a British magizoologist whose magical creatures escape in New York City during 1926. The story expands the wizarding world beyond Harry Potter’s school-centered narrative.

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, written as if it were Harry’s school copy. The 2016 film is not a direct adaptation of that textbook; it uses the book’s fictional author and subject as the foundation for a new story.