Few have been able to accomplish what the Harry Potter franchise has done. While Twilight and The Hunger Games have found the same success as Harry Potter has, films like The Mortal Instruments, Percy Jackson, I Am Number Four,, and a handful others couldn’t even come close. So instead of trying to find the next potentially big YA adaptation, WB has sealed a deal with Harry Potter writer J.K. Rowling for a new series of films set in the Harry Potter universe.

According to Deadline, Rowling will make her screenwriting debut with Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, which will be the start of a new film series. The film will be an original story based on the Hogwarts textbook that appears on a required reading list for new students in the first Potter novel, Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone (known in the U.S. as The Sorcerer’s Stone), as well as the adventures of the fictitious author of the textbook, Newt Scamander.

Set in New York 70 years before the events of the first Harry Potter tale, the film will feature magical creatures and new characters that are tied into the mythology. However, Rowling says that the film will not be a prequel.

Rowling, on how she was was approached:

Rowling, on how Fantastic Beasts is tied to the Harry Potter world despite being an original story:

Fantastic Beasts will also expand off-screen as Warner Bros. also announced that it would be producing the video game, consumer products, and digital initiatives businesses, including enhanced links with Pottermore.com, Rowling’s digital online experience built around the Harry Potter stories.

After the success of the Potter series, Rowling actually wrote Harry Potter – Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them, a small companion book with the proceeds going to charity. The book 42-page book is out of print in hardcover and paperback (though you can still get it through some sellers), but is available digitally for the Kindle. The title is also available as part of the two-book hardcover set, Harry Potter Schoolbooks: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them / Quidditch Through the Ages.

[Source: Deadline]