Following his Oscar success with Gravity, it seems that director Alfonso Cuaron could be set for a return to the Harry Potter franchise, with former Deadline chief Nikki Finke reporting that the Mexican filmmaker is in talks with Warner Bros. about helming the upcoming spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them.
Cuaron made his English language debut back in 2004 with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which overhauled the look of the blockbuster series and took it in a darker, more mature direction, despite ending up as the lowest grossing instalment of the franchise.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is set some 70 years before the adventures of the Boy Wizard, and will revolve around “magizoologist” Newt Scamander – the “author” of J.K. Rowling’s spin-off book of the same name. Rowling herself is writing the screenplay, while the film is set for release on November 18th, 2016.
Originally published May 19, 2014. Updated April 15, 2018.
