Good news Potter fans, J.K. Rowling is hard at work on three "Harry Potter" spinoff movies. According to the Los Angeles Times, Rowling - who authored the original "Harry Potter" series - is writing screenplays for the three films, with the possibility of more being released.
"Jo has a vision for this extension of the franchise, and for the first time, she is writing the script for what she believes is at least a trilogy," said Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsuijhara.
The movies will be based on Rowling's fictitious 2001 textbook "Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them." According to the Los Angeles Times, the films will take place about 70 years before the events of "Harry Potter" and will focus on magizoologist Newt Scamander, who is the fictitious author of the textbook.
The first spinoff is expected to be released in 2016, with a second and third in 2018 and 2020, respectively. Rowling recently caused a stir when she teased fans on Twitter about the upcoming films.
"Cry, foe! Run amok! Fa awry!" she tweeted leaving fans to figure out the riddle. Following the Twitter tease, Rowling announced on her Harry Potter website, Pottermore, that she was releasing a short story about Potter's enemy Dolores Umbridge.
"Umbridge is not only one of the most malicious Potter characters, she is the only person other than Lord Voldemort to leave a permanent physical scar," a statement read Pottermore.
The story will be a "rich 1,700-word backstory about Umbridge's life, filled with many new details, as well as Rowling's revealing first-person thoughts and reflections about the character." Fans can expect the story on Halloween, Friday Oct. 31.
Umbridge first appeared in the "Harry Potter" series in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" as a Dark Arts professor and then temporary headmistress of Hogwarts. Umbridge hated Harry Potter and made him carve the words "I must not tell lies" in his hand with a Blood Quill.
Back in July, Rowling released another short story on the Pottermore site about a 30-something Potter who meets up with Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger at the Quidditch World Cup.
