A ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Sequel Is Officially Happening and Has a Release Date

This year we got a new Harry Potter book and play, a new Harry Potter spinoff, and now we’re getting a spinoff sequel. It’s a very good time to be a Harry Potter fan.

An owl arrived with good news on Wednesday in the form of a Warner Bros announcement. The studio revealed J.K. Rowling‘s upcoming spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them will officially get a sequel, via The Hollywood Reporter. The untitled sequel will feature the return of director David Yates and will be written by Rowling. It’ll hit theaters two years after the spinoff opens, on November 16, 2018.

We’ve known for some time Fantastic Beasts will kick off a new trilogy since Rowling previously tweeted her plans for three movies, and last month Yates let it slip that Rowling had already written the script for the sequel. According to THR, the second film will find Newt Scamander in an “increasingly dark time” as he and the other wizards must decide on their allegiances. While Eddie Redmayne will play Newt in the upcoming movie, the studio has yet to confirm if the film’s cast will return for the sequel.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them finds Redmayne’s Newt arriving in New York the 1920s with his suitcase full of magical creatures. The new film will introduce fans to the American wizarding world and the American version of Hogwarts, Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It also stars Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Ezra Miller, Alison Sudol, Samantha Morton, Ron Perlman, Carmen Ejogo, Jon Voight, and Colin Farrell. Here’s the official synopsis:

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” opens in 1926 as Newt Scamander has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Arriving in New York for a brief stopover, he might have come and gone without incident…were it not for a No-Maj (American for Muggle) named Jacob, a misplaced magical case, and the escape of some of Newt’s fantastic beasts, which could spell trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj worlds.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opens November 16.