Film director David Yates has revealed that the Harry Potter spin-off franchise, Fantastic Beasts, has been “parked” after three feature films.
Earlier in the year, the filmmaker, who also directed the last four Harry Potter movies from 2007 to 2011, had hinted (to Deadline) that the Newt Scamander-led (Eddie Redmayne) storyline might have come to an end.
The spin-off followed the author in his adventures following magical and mythical creatures 70 years before the events of the original book series.
However, David has now confirmed that the series has been paused, after the final movie in the trilogy, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, was released in 2022.
“With Beasts, it’s all just parked,” David explained to Total Film in a new interview, when discussing his new Netflix film Pain Hustlers.
“We made those three movies, the last one through a pandemic, and it was enormous fun, but it was tough.
“We’re all so proud of [Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore]. When it went out into the world, we just needed to sort of stop and pause, and take it easy.”
The third instalment was the least successful of the trilogy, which saw Mads Mikkelsen takeover as Grindelwald from Johnny Depp, and explored in more depth Grindelwald’s complicated relationship with his former lover turned nemesis Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law).
The announcement comes after HBO confirmed that a Harry Potter TV series is in development back in April, that will re-tell the seven-book series on the small screen.
The director, whose movies for the franchise have brought in over $6 billion (£4.9bn) at the box office, has said he would “never say never” to returning to Harry Potter in the future.
David also told Deadline that he was “excited about moving on” and added: “I have other projects on my desk, which are a million miles away from wizards and involved all sorts of things which are non-wizard associated.”