Director confirms ‘Fantastic Beasts’ series has been “parked”
David Yates, the director behind J.K. Rowling‘s Fantastic Beasts, has confirmed the series of movies have been “parked”.
Yates has directed three Fantastic Beasts movies, with the most recent being 2022’s Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. Although Rowling has previously stated she planned for five films in the franchise, the director isn’t currently planning to make any more.
Speaking on the Inside Total Film podcast, Yates said: “With Beasts, it’s all just parked. We made those three movies, the last one through a pandemic, and it was enormous fun but it was tough. We were actually filming when there wasn’t a vaccine. Thankfully, no one got sick, but we did have the most detailed protocols in place.”
He added: “We’re all so proud of [Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore] and when it went out into the world, we just needed to sort of stop and pause and take it easy.”
Yates also claimed he was shocked to hear Rowling planned for five Fantastic Beasts films, which he says was never communicated to him from the author.
The director said: “The idea that there were going to be five films was a surprise to most of us. Jo just mentioned it spontaneously, at a press screening once. No one had told us there were going to be five, we’d committed to the first one… I’m sure at some point, we’ll be back.”
“But yeah, I haven’t spoken to Jo, I haven’t spoken to [producer] David Heyman, I haven’t spoken to Warner Bros; we’re just taking a pause. It’s quite nice. It allows me to do stuff like this,” he continued.
Watch the trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore below.
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