JK Rowling confirms Fantastic Beasts franchise ending is already planned out at London premiere

The Wizarding World created by JK Rowling is making a return to the big screen this week with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – and the author already has the ending of the saga mapped out.

Speaking at the London premiere of the Harry Potter prequel, Rowling claimed to have the ending of the proposed five-film plot already locked down.

“It’s exactly as it was with Potter, funnily enough,” she said. “I know exactly where I’m getting to, but I don’t know exactly how I’m going to get there.

“I have ideas along the way. It’s not mapped out to the point that all the screenplays are written. I always said I like to have room to play. I still have room to play, but I do know what the end point is.”

The new film takes place in 1920s New York, focusing on the early days of ‘Magizoologist’ Newt Scamander. Rowling strongly hinted that the continuing plot will involve a young Dumbledore, but claimed that non-Potter fans can still enjoy the new story.

“I’m very excited because you don’t have to have seen Potter to enjoy this. That was my ambition,” she explained. “We’re going back in time, you can’t rely on anything you already know.

“It does connect with the Potter period to an extent, in that there are characters you find out… it’s an open secret, Dumbledore’s a young man at this point.

“It was a period in wizarding history I was always very interested in. It’s incredibly satisfying to go back and do it justice.”

Speaking about the film’s leading man, Rowling hailed Eddie Redmayne as “one of the best actors in the world”.

“Getting the call saying Eddie wanted to do it was exciting enough,” she recalled. “I’m thrilled with what he’s done with the character, it’s just warped out of my head. It’s an amazing thing to see.”

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them arrives in UK cinemas on Friday November 18