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J.K. Rowling Announces Plans for 5 ‘Fantastic Beasts' Films

'I’ve now done the plotting properly, so we’re pretty sure it’s going to be five movies'

More beasts coming your way.

J.K. Rowling announced Thursday at a global fan event for "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them"  that the movie series will no longer be a trilogy. It will be five movies long.

Yes, she’s Sirius.

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"We always knew it was going to be more than one movie, we knew that from the start," Rowling said on the movie panel. "We set a trilogy as a placeholder because we knew there would be more than one movie. But now I think we can say--I’ve now done the plotting properly, so we’re pretty sure it’s going to be five movies."

Starring Eddie Redmayne, "Fantastic Beasts" takes place in the 1920s and centers around the discovery of magical creatures and the secret that must be kept from the “muggle” world. It premieres Nov. 18.

After the event, Rowling made it clear on Twitter that she meant five movies--no more, no less, and certainly not "at least five." She replied to fans’ questions, explaining that the stories she is screenwriting have a "natural arc" for five films.

Rowling also mentioned she was toying with the idea of a film that explored the Dumbledore-Grindelwald relationship. It was a minute side story in "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows" book, but barely mentioned in the movie. The book described the duel between friends-turned-enemies as the most important of the wizarding world--prior to Lord Voldemort, of course.

"Fantastic Beasts" movies will be directed by David Yates, who directed the last four Harry Potter films. The second film is already in pre-production and due in theaters November 2018.

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