Fresh off his Oscar win for playing Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, Eddie Redmayne has been tapped to star as Newt Scamander in Warner Bros.' upcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them trilogy, which takes place in the Harry Potter universe decades before Harry's adventures at Hogwarts.
According to Variety, Redmayne has already been offered the lead role in the trilogy. Though Redmayne hasn't formally accepted yet, he has long been the studio's first choice, and he was "very happy" with the film's script after a recent read, so a deal is likely on the horizon.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is being written by Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling, making her screenwriting debut. In a recent tweet, Rowling confirmed that the film's protagonist is a Hufflepuff, which will surely be fascinating to anyone who knows what that means.
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