Fantastic Beasts is a film series that serves as a prequel to the Harry Potter novel and film series. The series is directed by David Yates and distributed by Warner Bros. It consists of three fantasy films as of 2022, beginning with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016), followed by Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022). The series follows magizoologist Newt Scamander, the author of a famous Hogwarts textbook, who arrives in New York City with an enchanted briefcase full of magical creatures and the desire to complete a global research expedition. The events of the series take place in the 1920s and are significant for J.K. Rowlings entire Potterverse, even impacting the modern-day British wizarding world introduced in Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. The series explores the political tensions surrounding the American magical community, including discord over how witches and wizards should interact with their non-magical counterparts. The series will take place over a period of 19 years, concluding in 1945.

In addition to the film series, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is also a fictional textbook marked as required reading for witches and wizards who attend Hogwarts. It is written by famed Hufflepuff Newt Scamander, around whom the Fantastic Beasts film series revolves, and offers a comprehensive overview of Magizoology, or the study of magical creatures. The book is also a real-world companion guide, designed to inject an added layer of context, detail, and lore to some of the magical creatures encountered in the wizarding world.