Pottermore is publishing J.K. Rowling’s screenplay for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the Wizarding World movie tracking Newt Scamander’s adventures in 1920s-era New York, is gonna be released in book form… but maybe not in the way you might have hoped.
Pottermore announced Tuesday morning that the full script for Fantastic Beasts, written by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling herself, will be published both as an eBook and a physical copy. The script will be released on November 19, 2016, which is just one day after Fantastic Beasts hits cinemas. Below is an early look at what it will look like:
You can pre-order the digital version or the physical version on Amazon.
This is in addition to the updated version of the original Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them book (a mock Hogwarts textbook written for charity), which we’ve heard is coming out in February 2017. According to a previous press release, the book will feature “new content by J.K. Rowling.”
Related: Harry Potter characters will turn up in Fantastic Beasts, star confirms
The Fantastic Beasts script book is literally just the script for the movie — the press release reads, “The published screenplay will comprise J.K. Rowling’s full script Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a feat of imagination and an exciting adventure, featuring an array of magical creatures and characters.”
This is great news for anyone interested in how to craft a screenplay, and Potter fans will of course also want to get their hands on this for the unique insights into how Rowling describes settings, characters and beasts. It’s still just the script, however, so fans hoping for a full novelization of the movie will be left disappointed.
Interestingly, the script for J.K. Rowling’s other non-book Potter project, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, is also being published in book format. Clearly, this is in direct response to the fans who are calling for more Harry Potter books from Rowling, even if it does kind of miss the mark.
Still, let’s be real: We’re totally all going to be buying the “book version” of Fantastic Beasts — and hope for some insightful notes from J.K. Rowling in the margins!