Fantastic Beasts: All the Details We Could Conjure Up About the Sequel

Get ready to go back to the wizarding world! The sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them — Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald — will be here before you know it. While we already have a few details about the upcoming installment, including the cast and release date, the first trailer could also offer a few clues for what's to come. If you're just as obsessed with the franchise as we are, check out every detail we've managed to gather below.

According to a statement from Warner Bros., the second film "moves deeper into an increasingly dark time for the wizarding world, where Newt and our other heroes have to decide on their allegiances." In April 2017, Rowling told fans that Newt's patronus is a "big spoiler," and by July 2017, a few crucial plot details had been released. The sequel will reportedly open in 1927, a few months after Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and Tina (Katherine Waterston) helped imprison Gellert Grindewald (Johnny Depp). The dark wizard has escaped into the city and amassed a dark army, so it's up to Newt and Grindewald's former friend, Albus Dumbledore, to stop him.

After the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, J.K. Rowling tweeted out a very important clarification about the timeline of the movies:

The sequel picks up in 1927, but we're already looking forward to what happens in 1945, which happens to be a critical year for the Wizarding world. It's then that Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindlewald have their infamous duel, and it would be shocking if we didn't get to see this huge piece of the puzzle in the final film of the series. Coincidentally, 1945 is also the year Tom Riddle begins his rise to power as Lord Voldemort, so there's a lot of ground to cover.

Adding to all of this is the fact the studio held an open casting call for actors between the ages of 13 and 16 to play young incarnations of Newt Scamander, Leta Lestrange, and a mysterious character named Sebastian. They're also looking for older teenage actors (between 16 and 18 years old) for young Gellert Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore.

After working on the first film together, David Yates will direct again with J.K. Rowling writing the screenplay. David Heyman, Rowling, Steve Kloves, and Lionel Wigram will also return as producers, and Rowling's agent Neil Blair, Rick Senat, and Danny Cohen will work as executive producers.

Eddie Redmayne will return as Newt Scamander, and Johnny Depp is now in a costarring role. Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, and Katherine Waterston are reprising their characters from the first film, but the biggest news is that Jude Law is playing young Dumbledore! Zoë Kravitz, Callum Turner, and Claudia Kim will also take on new characters in the sequel.

The second installment is set to be released on Nov. 16, 2018.