The New Fantastic Beasts Trailer Brings the Rowlingverse to NYC

Details about Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them have trickled out through J.K. Rowling's background stories on Pottermore over the past few months—but until the new trailer debuted in Hall H today, the arc of the plot was still a bit of a mystery. Now it’s clear that Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) smuggles magical creatures into America, where they manage to escape. Scamander seeks to recapture the beasts—which he believes are at risk of getting hurt by humans, “the most vicious creatures on the planet.” He gets help from Porpentina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), a witch who works for the Magical Congress of the United States of America, Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), a “No-Maj” (apparently American English for Muggle). The trailer also reveals more about Percival Graves (Colin Farrell), an villainous-seeming auror tracking Scamander—which is a good turn for a job description fans of the Potter series will associate with high honor. There’s also a line in voiceover from Credence (Ezra Miller), the son of an extremist who wants to kill all wizards and witches, that seems like the overall story this planned trilogy will depict. With the return to J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world imminent this November, it’s no wonder the trailer ends with Dan Fogler’s lamenting the same thing that will be on every fan’s mind after seeing it: “I want to be a wizard.”