“Eddie Redmayne has emerged as one of today’s most extraordinarily talented and acclaimed actors,” Warner Bros. Pictures’ president of creative development and worldwide production Greg Silverman said in a statement. “We are thrilled to welcome him into J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World, where we know he will deliver a remarkable performance as Newt Scamander, the central character in ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.’”

    Scamander is the “the Wizarding World’s preeminent magizoologist,” spending his time traveling the magical globe, documenting its creatures and publishing a Hogwarts history textbook that Harry, Ron, and Hermoine slave over for hours on end. What’s being touted as a trilogy will see the first film written by Rowling herself, with David Yates — who helmed the last four “Harry Potter” installments — aboard to direct. It will be Rowling’s first screenplay.

    “Fantastic Beasts” will be produced by them, David Heyman (producer for all eight films), Steve Klove (writer of seven) and Lionel Wigram (executive producer for the last four). The surely omnipresent feature is scheduled for a November 18, 2016 release in 3-D and IMAX.

    (More “Harry Potter” news on Page 5.)(SD-Agencie)