Yesterday saw the reveal of the title card for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the highly anticipated prequel to the Harry Potter films (see image at top). Now comes the official first look at the film in its headlining star Eddie Redmayne on the cover of the new issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine.

Check out the first look at Redmayne in the image gallery here below!

Happy Back to Hogwarts Day, everyone!

While the young wizards and witches of the Harry Potter universe make their way back today to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the new school year, us Muggles now have something new to look forward to as well — Harry Potter: The Character Vault coming this month from Titan Books.

Harry Potter: The Character Vault is a hardcover coffee table book that uses concept art, movie stills, behind-the-scenes looks, costume designs, and more to explore the characters of the Harry Potter film universe, with extensive profiles for all the main characters, such as Harry Potter and his pals Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, as well as villainous types like Dolores Umbridge and Lucius Malfoy.

It’s September 1st, and many kids are getting ready to go back to school. It’s an emotional time, especially if your child is going somewhere new (my own baby starts NYU tomorrow!). But it’s not just the Muggles who are readying to hit the books; the young wizards of the Harry Potter universe will arrive today at Platform 9 3/4 at King’s Cross to embark on their journey to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the start of the new school year.

This year is particularly notable as it marks the day that James Sirius Potter, the eldest child of Harry Potter and wife Ginny Weasley Potter, begins his first year at Hogwarts, according to author J.K. Rowling, who posted her best wishes to young James today via Twitter.

The main Harry Potter story may be over, but the franchise continues to live on through spinoffs. Making her screenwriting debut, author J.K. Rowling has penned Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, an all-new adventure set in her Harry Potter universe. Long-time Harry Potter director David Yates will helm the spinoff.

Today marks the beginning of principal photography. Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) stars as Newt Scamander, the wizarding world’s preeminent magizoologist, who stops in New York following his travels to find and document magical creatures. More on this story below.

Fans of the Harry Potter books and movies should be excited to learn that Eddie Redmayne, who recently won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, is now the frontrunner to star in author J.K. Rowling‘s Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Redmayne would play the character Newt Scamander in the movie, a magizoologist. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is the name of a textbook authored by Scamander that teaches of the many magical creatures that exist in the world, with a foreword written by none other than Albus Dumbledore. The textbook was written 70 years before the events of the Harry Potter movies, and is mentioned as one of Harry’s school books in the first book in the series, Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone.