Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was a hit when it was released in 2016, earning positive reviews and heaps of praise from Harry Potter fans. It was also a box office success, though the franchise took a step backwards with The Crimes of Grindelwald (a mostly awful sequel).
While The Secrets of Dumbledore was a slight improvement, the majority of moviegoers had lost interest by that point, and the movie simply wasn't good enough to guarantee that the story will continue.
The original plan was for the stories of Newt Scamander, Albus Dumbledore, and Gellert Grindelwald to play out over five movies, but even a fourth chapter seems unlikely at this point. That means this tale will never get a proper ending, and star Eddie Redmayne seems similarly doubtful about the franchise's future.
IndieWire asked him if he knows anything about Fantastic Beasts 4 and the actor responded, "I don’t. It’s more a question for J. K. Rowling and David Yates and Warners, but I don’t know, I’m afraid. I can’t add to that. I love playing Newt, he’s a sweet man."
Unfortunately, Newt has been sidelined for the most part since that first outing and no longer feels like the star of his own franchise. That may explain why Redmayne seems pretty nonplussed about what comes next, though it's clear Warner Bros.' decision to shift focus to familiar faces and locales isn't working.
The charm of that first movie has been lost as the series has progressed, with fantastic beasts shoehorned in as little more than an afterthought. It's a real shame, and with J.K. Rowling becoming an increasingly controversial figure among some people online, we wouldn't be shocked if the Harry Potter franchise as a whole is sidelined for a while moving forward.
Would you like the Fantastic Beasts franchise to continue?