Fantastic Beasts Franchise On Pause, Says Director

Harry Potter spin-off series Fantastic Beasts is on pause, according to the films’ director David Yates.

“We’re just taking a pause,” Yates said during an interview with Inside Total Film. “We got to the end of [Fantastic Beasts 3], and we were all so proud of that movie, and when it went out into the world, we all just needed to stop and pause and take it easy.”

A part of that was likely because production of Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore was “tough,” according to Yates, taking place during the height of the Covid pandemic. Another part is possibly due to the lackluster box office take of the third film. While the original Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them came close to the take of several Harry Potter films, The Secrets of Dumbledore earned only a little over half of what the first movie did.

Moreover, while the series has long been bandied about as having a five-film plan, that initially came as a “surprise” to the production team. “Jo [J. K. Rowling] just mentioned it spontaneously at a press screening once,” explained Yates. “I was there with Eddie [Redmayne] and the other actors, and we were here, you know, talking about the movie we were making, that we were very excited about, that first Fantastic Beasts film, and Jo said, ‘Oh, by the way, there’s five of them.’ And we all looked at each other because no one had told us there were going to be five.”

The idea of a pause for the Fantastic Beasts franchise is further supported by the fact that we’re yet to hear anything official about a fourth film. The Secrets of Dumbledore released in April 2022, and although Warner Bros. has announced a new Harry Potter TV series adaptation, there’s been no further word on the spin-off series.

Yates doesn’t rule anything out, though, saying, “I’m sure at some point Newt may well be back. Who can tell? We haven’t got any in-depth conversations at the moment.”