JK Rowling to write new film set in Harry Potter universe

"Harry Potter" creator JK Rowling is returning to the silver screen — and fans of the boy wizard are thrilled to hear she's making a return to the wizarding world for a new film about monster-hunting. 

The new "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" will be produced by Warner Brothers, and is based on a textbook often cited by Hogwarts students in Rowling's fantastically successful series.

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It will star author and magical beast hunter Newt Scamander, and is anticipated to be the first in a series of fantasy films. It will also be Rowling's first foray into screenwriting. 

"Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for seventeen years, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world," Rowling said of the new film on her website, adding that the story will begin in New York a good seventy years prior to the events of "Harry Potter."

Rowling decided to write the screenplay herself after Warner Brothers proposed an idea for a "Fantastic Beasts" film to her.  "Having lived for so long in my fictional universe, I feel very protective of it," she said to the Associated Press. "I already knew a lot about Newt."

"As I considered Warner's proposal, an idea took shape that I couldn't dislodge. That is how I ended up pitching my own idea for a film to Warner Bros," she added. 

JK Rowling recently made headlines after it was revealed she'd written an adult crime novel, "The Cuckoo's Calling," under the name of one Robert Galbraith. 

Her first post-Harry Potter novel, "The Casual Vacancy," continues to sell at a blistering pace, reaching #1 on the bestseller list in the UK once again in August.