What Is The Order Of Fantastic Beasts 3 Books Series By J.K. Rowling?

The core trilogy is the screenplays: 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' (2016), 'The Crimes of Grindelwald,' 'The Secrets of Dumbledore.' That's it. The 2001 book is a delightful bit of ephemera. It's the book Harry bought for school. Reading it won't tell you anything about the movie characters' fates.

If you're curious about where 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' is set, here's the short-but-satisfying scoop and a little extra I love to geek out about. The original book that J. K. Rowling released as a tie-in is presented as a Hogwarts textbook written by Newt Scamander — in-universe it's the sort of field guide students would use. That fictional textbook exists inside the world of 'Harry Potter' and is referenced throughout those stories. The printed charity book Rowling published in 2001 (and updated in later forms) is framed as that same guide, full of creature descriptions and potted history. When you follow the film franchise that borrows the title, the setting moves away from Hogwarts-era classrooms and into the wider wizarding world. The first film drops you into 1920s New York City, with later films traveling to places like Paris and other international locations as the plot expands. I love how that shift turns a classroom reference into a globe-trotting adventure — feels like reading the footnotes of a much bigger magical atlas.

I still get a thrill thinking about how J.K. Rowling folded two very different things into one title: the playful Hogwarts textbook 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' and the movie of the same name that turned that handbook into a full-on story. In the book itself (the charity textbook), the main ‘character’ credited is Newt Scamander — it’s presented as his field guide to magical creatures, full of entries on beasts like the Niffler, Demiguise, Graphorn, Erumpent, and the docile Bowtruckle. Harry Potter often appears only in a foreword or note in editions tied to the wizarding world. The film version throws Newt into 1920s New York and surrounds him with a colorful cast: Porpentina 'Tina' Goldstein, her sister Queenie, Jacob Kowalski (the lovable No-Maj baker), Percival Graves (who isn’t quite who he seems), Credence Barebone and the sinister Mary Lou Barebone, plus MACUSA’s President Seraphina Picquery. The beasts that were little sketches in the book get full-on screen time — the Niffler causing chaos, the Obscurial/Obscurus with Credence, and Newt’s tender care for creatures. If you want to explore them, read the illustrated text of 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' for creature lore, and watch the film for character-driven drama and Newt’s creatures brought to life — I find both formats hugely charming in different ways.

Back when the wizarding world started to feel bigger than just Hogwarts, I loved tracking how J.K. Rowling expanded it. The original companion book 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' was published in 2001 (published in the UK by Bloomsbury and in the US by Scholastic) as a faux textbook supposedly written by Newt Scamander; it was a charity item too, with proceeds helping good causes. That little book felt like a wink to fans who wanted more world-building beyond the main series. Years later, that same title jumped to the big screen when Rowling wrote the screenplay and David Yates directed. The film 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' opened in November 2016 (widely released on November 18, 2016), introducing Newt in live-action and setting up a whole new cinematic corner of the franchise. Personally, seeing that gap—from a charity textbook in 2001 to a sprawling film in 2016—felt like watching the universe grow up with us.

As someone who’s shelved far too many editions and argued with friends about which booklet counts as "canon," here’s a reading map that actually helped me enjoy the world more. If your main goal is to follow the storyline introduced in the films and their published scripts, read the screenplay books in release order: start with the screenplay published as 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' (the film's screenplay edition released in 2016), then continue to 'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald' (2018), and then 'Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore' (2022). Those three move the plot forward chronologically and reflect how the movies unveiled characters and revelations — reading them in the same order they came out keeps twists and character development intact, and you get the same pacing as the theatrical experience. If you’re more of a lore nerd who likes background detail, slot in the original 2001 companion, also titled 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' (the Newt Scamander textbook), either before or after the screenplays. I personally read the screenplay trilogy first and then dug into the 2001 in-world textbook for flavor — it felt like stepping from the main plot into a bestiary, finding little entries that enriched creatures I’d already met on screen. Also consider pairing these with 'Harry Potter' if you haven’t already read it: the Potter books illuminate characters, institutions, and political threads that link back to the beasts material. Companion books like 'Quidditch Through the Ages' or 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' are optional but nice if you want more of that wizarding-universe vibe. A few practical tips from my late-night reading sessions: watch out for small retcons between the screenplay texts and older lore — the screenplay novels are adaptations of film scripts and sometimes lean heavily on visual or actor-driven moments. Collector note: different printings and regions sometimes have variant covers and extra photos; if you like art, look for illustrated or special editions. If you prefer audio, check whether the screenplay editions have narration that preserves the filmic tone. Ultimately, for a satisfying, narrative-first experience: screenplay trilogy in release order, then the Newt Scamander textbook for deeper bestiary lore, and sprinkle in Potter canon whenever you want more context — it’s the combo that keeps me turning pages on long subway rides and rainy afternoons.

Straight talk: yes, but it's not a simple stamp of approval — it's a messy, human-shaped kind of canon. The little charity book 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' that J.K. Rowling released years ago as a Hogwarts textbook is very much part of the original 'Harry Potter' web of facts. Later, when the film series started and Rowling wrote (and was credited as) the screenwriter, many fans and even official materials treated the films' events as part of the same universe. Where things get thorny is in the details. Over the years Rowling added facts on various platforms, and the films introduced new characters and plotlines that sometimes bend or even contradict bits of earlier material. Studios, tie-ins, and the author have all weighed in at different times, so canon becomes a stack of sources: the original books, Rowling's supplemental writings, and the films. Personally, I treat the book and the films as official but with footnotes: the core 'Harry Potter' canon still guides me, and I accept retcons as part of a living fictional world that grows messy the more people build on it. It still thrills me to find connective threads between the textbook, the screenplays, and the novels.

The 'Fantastic Beasts' series is like a backstage pass to the wizarding world we first fell in love with in 'Harry Potter'. It’s set decades before Harry’s story, but the connections are everywhere—like spotting familiar faces in old family albums. Newt Scamander’s adventures introduce us to Dumbledore’s younger years, Grindelwald’s rise (Voldemort’s dark wizard predecessor), and even the origins of Hogwarts legends. The Lestrange family name pops up, and hearing characters mention 'Albus' with reverence gives me chills. It’s wild how tiny details—like a certain magical suitcase or a phoenix—bridge the gaps between eras. The politics of the wizarding world in 'Fantastic Beasts' also feel like a prelude to the Ministry’s corruption in 'Harry Potter'. Seeing how Grindelwald’s ideology mirrors Voldemort’s pure-blood mania adds depth to both villains. And let’s not forget Nagini’s heartbreaking backstory! The books (and films) weave these threads so subtly—it’s less about direct cameos and more about understanding how history repeats itself. Every rewatch of 'Harry Potter' after 'Fantastic Beasts' feels richer because suddenly, you’re in on secrets even Harry never knew.

The 'Fantastic Beasts' series, originally penned by J.K. Rowling as a companion to the 'Harry Potter' universe, has a bit of a unique structure. There’s the core textbook, 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,' which was first published in 2001 as a faux-reference book within the wizarding world. It’s a fun, encyclopedic read filled with creative creatures and witty annotations from Newt Scamander. Later, Rowling expanded the lore with the 'Fantastic Beasts' screenplay series, which follows Newt’s adventures in the 1920s. As of now, there are three screenplay books: 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' (2016), 'The Crimes of Grindelwald' (2018), and 'The Secrets of Dumbledore' (2022). These aren’t traditional novels but rather script formats, so the tone feels more cinematic. It’s interesting how the franchise evolved—from a whimsical textbook to a full-blown prequel saga. While the screenplay books dive deeper into the wizarding world’s history, they’re quite different from the original 'Fantastic Beasts' book, which remains a standalone gem. I love flipping through the original for its quirky illustrations and lore, but the screenplays add layers to characters like Dumbledore and Grindelwald. If you’re counting, that’s technically four books, though only one is a 'traditional' book. The screenplays are a neat experiment, though I sometimes wish we’d gotten full novels instead!

It's wild to think that 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' started life as a cheeky little textbook in the margins of the wizarding world. Rowling wrote it originally as a compact companion to the 'Harry Potter' series and released it in 2001 for charity, presented as if Newt Scamander — a Hogwarts magizoologist — had catalogued creatures for students. That schoolbook conceit is pure gold: it lets her play natural historian, invent taxonomy, Latin-style names, and witty footnotes while still grounding everything in folklore and real-world natural history traditions. Beyond the textbook angle, the deeper inspiration is obvious if you love myths the way I do: medieval bestiaries, classical myths, fairy tales and global folklore. Rowling borrows from basilisk legends, phoenix myths and river names (Scamander has echoes in Greek myth), then mixes in the structure of 19th-century naturalists' field guides. Later, when she expanded Newt's story into the 1920s-set screenplay, that historical cosmopolitan era and the global magical community became another creative spark. For me, the whole thing reads like a love letter to storytold animals and the way humans have tried to classify the unknown — it still makes me grin every time I flip through the creature entries.