Rowling is writing the screenplay for the movie, which is set 70 years before the events of the Potter series, and centers on a fictitious author named Newton Artemis Fido Scamander.
In Potter lore, Scamander compiled a reference guide to magical beasts, and the movies will follow his adventures after he is commissioned to write the tome. Unlike the Potter stories, which kicked off in London, Fantastic Beasts will begin in New York, according to the Hollywood Reporter.