Earlier today, J.K. Rowling was on the set of the forthcoming "Harry Potter" spin-off film "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." The author wrote the screenplay for the film based off her 2001 encyclopedia of magical creatures from the wizarding world and shared a picture of her time on set to Twitter.
"It's been a fun day," Rowling captioned the picture.
"Fantastic Beasts" is Rowling's first screenplay. The story takes place 70 years before Harry ever stepped foot inside Hogwarts in 1926 in New York City. At the center of the film is Newt Scamander, an eccentric magizoologist played by Academy Award-winning actor Eddie Redmayne.
Newt comes to NYC for a mysterious reason with his trusty briefcase, a magical device that is "way-way-way-bigger-on-the-inside." Within the case are "expansive habitats for a collection of rare and endangered magical creatures from Newt's travels around globe," as HNGN previously reported.
When Newt arrives in America, he discovers that wizards are in hiding from "muggles," the term used in the "Harry Potter" books to describe a person with no magical ability, which are called "no-maj" in the states. The threat of exposure for wizards is a lot graver in the U.S. than it is in Newt's native England, and the story will follow him on his adventures after the magical creatures in his case escape.
While Rowling shared no details of her time on set, Redmayne previously revealed what it was like the first time he spoke to Rowling about his role as Newt.
"She could talk back through everything, every intricacy," Redmayne told Entertainment Weekly. "You're not playing a 'real' character, but in J.K. Rowling's mind he's entirely three dimensional and you can talk to her about what his life was like."
Along with Redmayne in the lead, "Fantastic Beasts" also stars Katherine Waterson, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Ezra Miller, Colin Farrell and Samantha Morton.
"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" will be released in theaters on Nov. 18, 2016.
It's been a fun day. pic.twitter.com/YDxsXJQ7pj
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 3, 2015
