Though the third film in the series premiered in July, Fantastic Beasts 4 is reportedly not in development at Warner Bros. Fantastic Beasts is a spinoff film series of the Harry Potter franchise, acting as a prequel to the original films telling the story of magizoologist Newt Scamander as he gets wrapped up in the impending war between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. The first film in the series premiered in 2016, with the sequel, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald debuting in 2018. While the Fantastic Beasts series has received critical acclaim for its production design and visual effects, the films have all received mixed-to-poor reviews from fans and critics alike.
In October 2016, shortly before the release of the first Fantastic Beasts film, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling announced that the spinoff series would be comprised of five films, which would take place between 1926 and 1945. However, the Fantastic Beasts series has not only performed poorly since its inception, but has been plagued with controversy as well. Ezra Miller, who starred as Credence Barebone, has been the subject of several legal controversies in the past year, including being charged with felony burglary, disorderly conduct, and harassment, while Johnny Depp, who played Fantastic Beasts' antagonist Grindelwald, was forced to exit the series after his volatile public court case with his ex-wife Amber Heard. Depp was replaced by Mads Mikkelsen in the third movie, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. Rowling herself has also garnered severe public backlash for her openly anti-trans views. As a result, in April, executives at Warner Bros. said they were waiting to see how Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore performed before greenlighting the fourth and fifth installments.
As of now, Variety has reported that Fantastic Beasts 4 is not currently in development. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav says that there is potential to work with Rowling on future Harry Potter projects, but a studio source confirmed that there are no active discussions concerning future Harry Potter or Fantastic Beasts movies at the moment. It is currently unclear when, or if, Fantastic Beasts 4 will continue into development.
What Fantastic Beasts 4's Story Could've Been About
This summer, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore premiered to a mixed reception, with the film sitting at a 46 percent approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Though the Fantastic Beasts series has been performing relatively poor compared to Harry Potter, there has still been enough interest in the spinoff from fans to make further sequels. With Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore wrapping up Credence's arc and seeing Dumbledore and Grindelwald finally face off, the third film brought many major plot points from the series to an end, leaving many to wonder what a potential Fantastic Beasts 4 could explore. While there are certainly still more conflicts to be explored in the Wizarding World, like a full-scale magical war, some fans would prefer to see Fantastic Beasts stay a trilogy.
Though Rowling initially called for a five-film series, there was no way for Warner Bros. to have predicted all the controversies that would befall the franchise, thus leaving Fantastic Beasts 4's prospects in doubt. While some critics and fans pin the series' low performance on bad writing and a poor concept, there is no question that controversy has played a major part in the spinoff's success. Although Miller and Depp are no longer a part of the Fantastic Beasts universe, Rowling's harmful anti-trans commentary continues to alienate previously loyal fans of the franchise, leaving the fate of the franchise currently unknown.
Source: Variety