‘Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them’ Trailer: Eddie Redmayne Makes Debut As Newt Scamander

The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them trailer dropped Tuesday, giving a first look of Eddie Redmayne in action as Newt Scamander.

‘Fantastic Beasts’ Trailer

The Fantastic Beasts announcement trailer introduces the story of Newt Scamander, the wizarding world’s foremost magizoologist. Set primarily in 1930s New York City, the film follows Scamander’s search for the world’s most fascinating magical creatures to complete what will ultimately become Hogwarts students’ greatest resource on the subject – Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

The trailer gives a brief glimpse of Scamander’s arrival in Manhattan, with his book of magical creatures in tow. After some of the beasts escape from their leather bound trap, Porpetina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston) brings the information she has about Scamander to the Magical Congress of the United States of America.

“Yesterday a wizard entered New York with a case,” Porpetina, a member of the Congress herself, says. “A case full of magical creatures. And unfortunately some have escaped.”

Later on in the trailer, Porpetina is shown walking in on Newt fiddling with the case in question. “It was open?” she asks.

“Just a smidge,” he sheepishly retorts.

The trailer also featured a brief glimpse of Colin Farrell as Percival Graves, an assistant to the MACUSA president.

Author J.K. Rowling penned Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them as a companion book to her 7-book Harry Potter series. She made her debut as a screenwriter on the Fantastic Beasts film, re-teaming with David Yates, who directed the last four Harry Potter films – Order Of The Phoenix, Half Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows parts one and two.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them hits theaters Nov. 18, 2016.