There has been much mystery surrounding the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them plot. What was originally conceived to be a faux documentary based on the life of Newt Scamander, official plot details have now been confirmed. So grab a butter beer and rejoice because not only do we know what the Fantastic Beasts plot is, we also have all the major character descriptions.

Set in the United States during the roaring ’20s, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will now be a full-blown expansion of the Harry Potter Universe. The project was warmly received by fans, but many of us muggles were wondering how they were going to turn an educational catalog into a movie trilogy. However this catalog, like Newt’s magical case he carries, is bigger-on-the-inside than it might appear.

Author and creator J.K. Rowling, who up until this point has only had creative input in the Harry Potter franchise films, penned film’s script as her first ever screenplay. Here’s the official plot synopsis for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, courtesy of Entertainment Weekly:

Eccentric magizoologist Newt Scamander comes to New York with his trusty weathered case. This case is one of those way-way-way-bigger-on-the-inside magical devices, and within are expansive habitats for a collection of rare and endangered magical creatures from Newt’s travels around globe. He discovers the American wizarding community is fearfully hiding from Muggles and the threat of public exposure is an even graver concern than in the UK. Fantastic Beasts is the story of what happens when this uniquely skilled English wizard travels to wiz-phobic America and a variety of his creatures, some quite dangerous… get out of their case.

Yesterday we got our first look at Fantastic Beasts production images, and now we can put names to faces as Entertainment Weekly also presented character descriptions with their coverage:

Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander – An eccentric globe-hopping English “magizoologist” wizard who’s far more comfortable around beasts and creatures than he is around other people. Comes to New York on a quest with his case full of magical habitats containing rare and endangered species.

As soon as this project was announced, Eddie immediately came to mind. Excited to see him take on this role.

Katherine Waterston as Porpentina “Tina” Goldstein – An ambitious worker at the Magical Congress of the United States of America (aka MACUSA, the U.S. version of the Ministry of Magic) who meets Newt. Tina is relegated to an office well below her abilities after she stood up for the wrong person. She longs to fight for what’s right.

Who did she stand up for and what was the cause she is championing? Also predicting she will be Newt’s love interest.

Alison Sudol as Queenie Goldstein – Tina’s younger sister and roommate, a big-hearted free-spirit “legilimens” who can read minds.

Jealous, I want to read minds.

Dan Fogler as Jacob Kowalski – An optimistic No-Maj (aka Muggle) factory worker/aspiring baker who gets introduced to the wizarding world when he meets Newt. Fun fact: He’s the Harry Potter franchise’s first Muggle main character.

Suh-weet, now all of us muggles can feel included.

Colin Farrell as Graves – A powerful auror and the right-hand man of the American wizarding world’s president.

Collin Farrell typically goes for dark and broody. I’ll be interested to see if he will play Graves this way or if he breaks away from that.

Samantha Morton as Mary Lou – The narrow-minded leader of the fanatical Second Salemers, a group looking to expose and destroy wizards and witches.

Sounds like we have our baddy here, can she live up to the wretchedness of Dolores Umbridge?

Ezra Miller as Credence – Perhaps the cast’s most mysterious character. He’s Mary Lou’s troubled adopted son.

I love Ezra Miller, and whenever mystery and troubled are involved, you know this is right up his alley. I’m excited to see how this character pans out.

How do you think these characters will fit into the beloved Harry Potter universe? With absolutely nothing to base their characters on, do you think Newt and the rest will be as memorable as those who were fully developed over the course of seven novels?

Directed by David Yates, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them  stars Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Samantha Morton, Ezra Miller, Colin Farrell, Faith Wood-Blagrove, Jenn Murray, Jon Voight, and Ron Perlman. The film hits theaters on November 18, 2016.

Source: Entertainment Weekly