Granted, Pottermania never really left. But it's peaking right now in a way that it hasn't since Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows, Part II came out. On Nov. 17, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them will hit theaters — the first cinematic continuation of the Potterverse outside of the original series. Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne stars as magizoologist Newt Scamander in this adaptation of J.K. Rowling's supplemental Potter prequel text. While the book itself is presented in a textbook style, the movie is about the fictional author's adventures with the various magical creatures he catalogs. The movie is set in the same wizarding world as all seven Harry Potter books, but don't expect the Golden Trio to make a cameo. Harry, Hermione, and Ron are not in Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them . On the bright side, that leaves some room in your heart to fall in love with new enchanted characters.
Even if the trouble magnet best friends were somehow relevant to the story the movie tells, a little concept called time would make it impossible for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to be a part of the main action. Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is set in 1926. According to Potter lore, Harry and Ron were both born in 1980. Hermione was born in 1979. Their stint at the wizarding school where they met began in 1991; the final battle with Voldemort occurred on Hogwarts' grounds in 1998. You may remember that the physical copy of the Fantastic Beasts book was designed to look like a school text — a school text belonging to a young Harry Potter. Scamander's work in the field happened long before Harry was even born.
Time isn't an insurmountable obstacle in the movies though, especially in a movie about magic and wizards. Surely it's possible that Fantastic Beasts could include a tag that jumps forward in time to the pals in the Gryffindor common room or later, in their professional lives. But don't get your hopes up for a cameo by Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, or Emma Watson. Last summer, Radcliffe confirmed to E! Online that he would not be appearing in the Fantastic Beasts film, adding, "Yeah, eight [movies] was cool." And though Watson told MTV News in 2014 that she "would definitely be up for a cameo!," that theoretical cameo never came to pass.
Earlier this year, Grint turned out to an event celebrating the Universal Studios Hollywood Wizarding World Of Harry Potter park, where he and castmates Matthew David Lewis, Evanna Lynch and others were shown new footage of Fantastic Beasts. "I didn’t know what to expect,” he said, since he wasn't a part of the making of the film. "It looks amazing."
The door hasn't completely closed on including the original trio in this new series. Last month, Rowling announced that there are four more Fantastic Beasts movies to come after this one. Who knows, one of them may lure Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint back to the childhood roles that made them stars.
Images: Warner Bros. Pictures; Giphy
