Released back in 2001, J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was a short book released for Comic Relief, alongside another ‘companion’ book Quidditch Through The Ages. Based on a book mentioned in the first Harry Potter novel, Fantastic Beasts is written as a ‘textbook’ by “magizoologist” Newt Scamander, and describes some of the more unusual creatures occupying Rowling’s fictional universe. Scamander will be the main character in the proposed film.

Given how lucrative the Harry Potter film series has proven for studio Warner Bros., it’s no surprise they’re looking to expand the franchise in any way possible despite the lack of core Potter novels left to adapt. Fans don’t need to fear, however: J.K. Rowling herself will be taking control of adapting the book, and it will be her screenwriting debut.

In a statement released on her website, Rowling writes “although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for seventeen years, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world.  The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, but Newt’s story will start in New York, seventy years before Harry’s gets underway.”

Rowling’s first adult-themed novel The Casual Vacancy will be produced as a television series for BBC, with Warner Bros. handling the international distribution. Rowling has also completed work on a sequel to The Cuckoo’s Calling, the crime novel she released earlier this year under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.