J.K. Rowling to educate us on magic in North America to prep for Fantastic Beasts

By Stephanie Topacio Long March 7, 2016

fantastic beasts screenplay jk rowling and where to find them city — Warner Bros.

This year is set to be a big one for Potterheads: Not only is Harry Potter series creator J.K. Rowling releasing an eighth book this summer, a film based on the spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will open in theaters in November. To get fans excited about the movie (as if they aren’t already), the bestselling author is set to publish a series of new writing on Pottermore this week called Magic in North America.

The website announced the news today, revealing that the first installment, History of Magic in North America, will be available tomorrow, March 8 at 9 am ET. The series will consist of four installments, with the last being published on Friday, March 11. “Magic in North America will bring to light the history of this previously unexplored corner of the wizarding world in the run up to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” according to the Pottermore announcement.

Exclusive video announcements about the series were released by EW and The Telegraph today as well. “The history of America is more amazing than you could ever imagine,” teases the video. It touches on subjects that will be covered in Rowling’s new writing, including the North American wizarding school, Ilvermorny; “skin walkers”; the Salem Witch trials; and the U.S. equivalent of the Ministry of Magic, the Magical Congress of the United States of America.

The knowledge may come in handy when Fantastic Beasts opens in theaters this fall. The film is set in New York in the 1920s and it follows Newt Scamander (played by Eddie Redmayne), a Ministry of Magic employee who is an expert in magical creatures. (You may recognize him as the author of the Fantastic Beasts book, which was assigned reading for Harry and his Hogwarts classmates.)

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them hits theaters on November 18.

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Stephanie Topacio Long is a writer and editor whose writing interests range from business to books. She also contributes to…

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