Theory of Everything star Eddie Redmayne is set to play Newton Artemis Fido "Newt" Scamander, the central character in the upcoming Harry Potter spin off, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Greg Silverman, President of Creative Development and Worldwide Production of Warner Bros, confirmed that Redmayne will star in this new film which J.K. Rowling clarified to US Magazine as "neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world."
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is actually a textbook in the context of the Harry Potter film. The book was written by the renowned Newt Scamander himself, who trekked the world to find and examine the most interesting magical creatures and species. Thus, the film adaptation is expected to essentially contain Scamander's encounter and adventures with these fictional animals in the magic world such as Acromantula, Bowtruckle, Diricawl, Erkling, and Griffin among others.
As per the original book, Newt Scamander became a magizoologist because of his fervent interest, love, and curiosity with marvellous and extraordinary creatures that he acquired from his mother. Scamander belonged to the Hufflepuff house when he studied at Hogwarts.
Eddie Redmayne played Professor Stephen Hawking in the romantic drama film The Theory of Everything in 2015. He made the challenging portrayal of a scientist suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) for which he practically bagged all the Best Actor awards including that of the Oscars, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and BAFTA. As such, he has immediately proven himself as one of today's most extremely talented and highly-praised actors.
The Harry Potter spin-off will be a trilogy and the first part of the series will be shown in theatres on November 2016 according to Digital Trends. The subsequent chapters are planned to premier in 2018 and 2020 respectively.