JK Rowling has confirmed on Twitter that the existence of a long-mooted American school of witchcraft and wizardry could be revealed in new Harry Potter spin-off movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
During an ad-hoc question and answer session with fans on the social network, the British author was asked to name the institution which US students of magic might attend in the Potter universe. While she refused to do so, Rowling did reveal a series of titbits regarding the hitherto-unidentified school.
@jk_rowling @MrBanankartong IS NEWT GOING TO VISIT A SCHOOL IN NEW YORK OMG YES
— Tanner F. Bowen (@tannerfbowen) June 6, 2015
.@tannerfbowen No, but he's going to meet people who were educated at [name] in [not New York].
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 6, 2015
Taken together, the writer’s flurry of tweets suggest the hero of Fantastic Beasts, swashbuckling “magizoologist” Newt Scamander, will meet pupils or former pupils from the American school in the new film, for which Rowling is currently providing her debut screenplay. They also suggest that the institution’s name is “immigrant” in origin, is not based in New York, and is founded on principles of magic relating at least partly to Native American culture.
.@loonyloolaluna Oh wait - did you mean the NAME is of American Indian origin? It isn't. The name is of immigrant origin.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 7, 2015
.@loonyloolaluna If I answer that fully it will reveal the location of the school, but you can take that as a yes!
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 7, 2015
.@loonyloolaluna However, indigenous magic was important in the founding of the school. If I say which tribes, location is revealed.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 7, 2015
Studio Warner Bros confirmed last week that The Theory of Everything’s Eddie Redmayne will play Scamander in Fantastic Beasts, which is expected to kick off a new series of movies. David Yates, who oversaw the final four Harry Potter films, is returning to direct.
Fantastic Beasts is set 70 years prior to the arrival of Potter and his pals at the magical Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Its title is borrowed from the first-year textbook that the Boy Who Lived uses in the novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Rowling also published a “magizoology” compendium under the same title in 2001 to raise money for the charity Comic Relief.
The new saga will be expected to continue the spectacular financial success of the Harry Potter films, the second-highest-grossing movie franchise in history (behind Marvel’s superhero films) with $7.7bn (£4.6bn) in box office receipts.
