Alfonso Cuaron reportedly in talks to direct Harry Potter spinoff, Fantastic Beasts

By Rick Marshall May 20, 2014

alfonso cuaron reportedly talks direct harry potter spinoff fantastic beasts — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Less than a week ago, we got official word that Warner Bros. plans to release Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them — a spin-off from the Harry Potter franchise — in November 2016. Things appear to be moving along quickly with the project, as a new rumor suggests that the studio may have found a director for the film, too.

According to Nikkie Finke, Gravity director Alfonso Cuaron is “deep in talks” to direct Fantastic Beasts, which will be written by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and is intended to launch a new trilogy set in the same universe as the existing eight-film franchise. If the report proves true, it will be a return to the Harry Potter universe for Cuaron, who previously directed the third film in the series, 2004’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Bringing in Cuaron for Fantastic Beasts would also lend quite a bit of cinematic cred to the film, given the filmmaker’s recent Oscar win for Gravity.

Based on the textbook of the same name that was introduced in the Harry Potter series and was subsequently published for fans in 2001, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them will be set some 70 years before the events of the Harry Potter narrative, and follow “magizoologist” Newt Scamander in his pursuit of magical creatures to study and catalogue.

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