Eddie Redmayne has been named as the favourite to take the lead in the hugely anticipated Harry Potter spin-off; Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
The 33-year-old star is said to be in talks to take the leading role, Newt Scamander, in the Warner Bros project, which JK Rowling is currently writing the script for.
According to sources speaking to Variety, Redmayne has ‘yet to receive an official offer’ for the part. Director David Yates, the man behind the other eight Harry Potter films, is said to be juggling a few big names to take the leading role in the new trilogy of films.
However, the source said that Redmayne was the frontrunner of the pack due to his success at the 2015 awards season. Which culminated in him taking home the Oscar for Best Actor for playing Professor Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything.
If Redmayne is chosen to take on the role, he will not be heading off to the set straight away as JK Rowling is still working on the script for the first film.
The author will be making her screenwriting debut on the trilogy and spoke on the Today show last week about the new film. She also unfortunately mentioned the small possibility for her writing Harry Potter 8.
“I’m stepping back into that world, writing the script for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. So, you know, that door is always opened to me. But I think Harry Potter 8, as in what happened next to Harry, Ron and Hermione — I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
The new films will be set 70 years before Harry, Ron and Hermione arrive at Hogwarts. They will focus on ‘magizooologist’ Newt Scamander, an expert in magical creatures.
In an interview with Wonderland last year, JK Rowling joked about the Harry Potter cast making cameos in the new film. She said: “I really want Emma [Watson], Dan [Radcliffe] and Rupert [Grint] in really heavy make-up in the background of a scene in Fantastic Beasts, and I’ll join [them].” We really hope this happens!
Fantastic Beasts will hopefully hit cinemas winter next year, the scheduled date is for November 18 2016. We will keep you updated if more details are confirmed. But for now, lets keep our fingers crossed for Eddie!
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