Rowling to write five Fantastic Beasts films

J K Rowling has said there will now be five Fantastic Beasts films, rather than three as previously announced.

The author announced the news at a live fan event Yesterday (13th October), held for the first film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. She later confirmed the five films on Twitter, saying: “I'm the screenwriter. Currently putting the finishing touches to the second one.”

When asked on Twitter how excited she was on a scale of one to five, Rowling responded: “4.95 (0.05 is nerves).”

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a prequel to the Harry Potter series and stars Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, a "magizoologist", who travels the world and documents magical creatures in his book. The book, also called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, is later used by Harry and his friends at Hogwarts.

The film is due for release next month, along with several tie-in book series from publishers such as Scholastic, Insight Editions, HarperCollins and Bloomsbury. The screenplay will be published by Little, Brown.