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JK Rowling confirms existence of American Hogwarts in cryptic Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them tweets

The state-side wizarding school will be founded on 'indigenous magic'

Jess Denham
Wednesday 10 June 2015 08:50 BST
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There's a Hogwarts in America, apparently
There's a Hogwarts in America, apparently

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JK Rowling has confirmed what many Harry Potter fans have long suspected to be true, that there is an American Hogwarts.

The British author revealed the news on Twitter at the weekend while answering questions from her millions of followers about upcoming spin-off movie Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.

Eddie Redmayne will play magizoologist Newt Scamander in the first of at least three films due out in November 2016. Rowling hinted that her lead character will be meet pupils who were educated at the stateside school of witchcraft and wizardry, but stopped short of revealing its exact name ('American Hogwarts' would be far too unimaginative).

So what do we know so far? Rowling has said that it will have a name of "immigrant origin" and be based somewhere that is "not New York".

The most interesting bit is that apparently "indigenous magic was important in the founding of the school" - sounds super cool to us. Rowling is not giving away the tribes involved because if she did so then the location would no longer be a secret.

Based on a 42-page textbook set for Hogwarts pupils and published in 2001, Fantastic Beasts follows the adventures of Scamander, who dedicates his life to the search for magical creatures in an "extension" of Potter's fantastical world.

Rowling, who is writing the screenplay herself for director David Yates, shared some details with fans last September: "The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films," she wrote. "But Newt's story will start in New York, seventy years before Harry's gets underway."

The Harry Potter franchise remains the most successful in history, having grossed a massive $7.7 billion in worldwide box office earnings.

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