2016 has been awful – and, with Trump’s inauguration scheduled for January, 2017 doesn’t look like it’s going to be much better.
Thankfully, happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. And, in this case, JK Rowling is well and truly our ‘lumos’ at the end of the tunnel.
She’s only gone and started writing two brand-new books.
One of the author’s fans had taken to Twitter to ask her when she’d be unveiling new magical worlds for us to immerse ourselves.
Praising Fantastic Beasts (otherwise known as the first of several planned Harry Potter prequel movies), they wrote: “Screenplay - fantastic! The movie - fabulous! However, when do we get a new novel? I happen to love the magic of your words.”
Rowling replied: “I’m working on it (literally). And thank you!”
She went on to confirm that she would be releasing one book under her own name, and another under her pseudonym, Robert Galbraith.
“I'm not sure which will come out first,” she added. “I'll let you know as soon as I do.”
However, for those hoping the books would lend an extra insight into Newt Scamander – aka Eddie Redmayne’s character in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – we have bad news for you.
He’s not going to feature in her new works. At all.
“No, no, no. There won’t be Newt Scamander novels,” she said, quelling the excitement of social media followers. “Only movies.
“Calm down, there.”
Fantastic Beasts fans will need to wait until the next movie to find out what happens next to Newt – although director Davis Yates has already revealed that Leta Lestrange (Zoe Kravitz) will be making an appearance.
“Yes. Leta Lestrange comes into the second movie,” he told Cinema Blend. “She’s quite complicated and damaged and confused and Newt is absolutely still in love with her, so she has a kind of power over him, and she, yeah, she’s a kind of tragic figure, so we will see a bit more of her in the second movie.”
As we all know from the first film, Newt has been carrying around a secret photo of his old school pal – who is thought to be a distant relative of the evil Bellatrix Lestrange.
He was warned by Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol) that Leta is “a taker” – and that he needs “a giver”. Which the audience took to mean, obviously, her sister, Tina (Katherine Waterston), particularly as we already know, thanks to Harry Potter canon, that Newt will one day wind up marrying her.
It seems as if their blossoming romance will hit the rocks in the form of Leta, however... although, hopefully, this will provide us with more information as to why Newt was expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Roll on Fantastic Beasts 2, already – we can’t wait to find out what happens next…
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