David Heyman: ‘J. K. Rowling isn’t cashing in with five Fantastic Beasts films’

J. K. Rowling isn’t milking her wizarding world, according to producer David Heyman.

The Oscar nominee has worked closely with author Rowling across the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beats film franchises, with the second film of the latter, The Crimes of Grindelwald, hitting cinemas last month (Nov18).

Fantastic Beasts, which stars Eddie Redmayne as Magizoologist Newt Scamander, is a prequel to the Harry Potter story, and was originally intended to span three films - before Rowling changed it to five.

“It wasn’t a difficult conversation to have at the studio,” Heyman told Collider of the extra two movies. “But it didn’t go from anybody speaking to Jo (Rowling) and saying, ‘You know what? Let’s milk this’. Both in fairness to the studio, but also to Jo.

“While it may look like it to some people, there is nothing cynical about this. This is all from her head. So she begins with three films, because she thinks that’s the story she wants to tell, and then as she digs deeper… and she hadn’t written anything when she said three.

“Then she wrote the first, and as she was writing the second, actually just before then, but as she says we working on the first, she began to realise there was a whole lot more.”

He added that while he’s sure the celebrated author knew the big plot moments, she thought up lots more storylines as she began writing.

The third instalment is slated for a 2020 release, though Heyman warns that’s not set in stone.

“My sense is, if I were a betting man, that we would probably be doing the next one in two years. But let’s see, you know? It’s early days. The hope would be two years later,” he said.

The cast of the new film has yet to be confirmed.