Eddie Redmayne has just added another exciting role to his impressive CV: he's officially been cast as lead character Newt Scamander in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. For the uninitiated: Fantastic Beasts is JK Rowling's spin-off from the Harry Potter series - set 70 years earlier . It sees "magizoologist" Newt travel the world researching fantastical creatures. The link to JK's original series being that Ron, Harry and Hermione obsess over a Hogwarts history book written by Newt about his adventures.*
Warner Bros' Greg Silverman confirmed the casting, saying "Eddie Redmayne has emerged as one of today's most extraordinarily talented and acclaimed actors. We are thrilled to welcome him into J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World, where we know he will deliver a remarkable performance as Newt Scamander, the central character in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."
In further exciting news for the film, David Yates - who led the last four *Harry Potters *- will direct, while JK herself will write the script. This is the first time she's penned the screenplay for one of her book's spin-offs, and comes about after she admitted it would be "difficult to see Newt realised by another author." She's keeping schtum about the plot for now, but has revealed it will start in New York. And this is just the beginning, as there's plans for a trilogy of movies adapted from the book.
The first film is set for release on 18 November 2016, the same week the first Harry Potter book was released 15 years ago (has it really been that long?!). The next movies in the series will follow in 2018 and 2020. We assume Eddie will be tied to all three films, meaning we've got plenty of screen time from him to look forward to.
Let's take a look back at Eddie's awesome red carpet style...
Eddie Redmayne And Felicity Jones: The Best Dressed Co-Stars Ever?
1 of 13Eddie and Felicity at the UK premiere of The Theory Of Everything
2 of 13The pair at the LA Premiere
3 of 13At the screening of the film in New York
4 of 13At the LA Press conference
5 of 13At the Hollywood film awards
6 of 13Attending the Britannia Awards in LA
7 of 13At a BAFTA event in LA
8 of 13AOL Studios event in LA
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10 of 13At an Acadamy screening on the film in LA
11 of 13At a press conference for the film
12 of 13Where it all began, at the Toronto film festival
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