The five-film saga that stopped at three

Three films exist. Two were planned and never made. The tracker shows both — and the box-office slide that explains the gap.

The three films, in order

All three are prequels to the Harry Potter films, set decades earlier and following the magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and a young Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law). Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them arrived in 2016 and took the title of the in-universe Hogwarts textbook as its name. The Crimes of Grindelwald followed in 2018, and The Secrets of Dumbledore closed the run in April 2022.

On paper that is a tidy trilogy. It was never meant to be one.

It was supposed to be five

In October 2016, around the launch of the first film, J.K. Rowling announced that Fantastic Beasts would be a five-film series — a plan that reportedly took director David Yates by surprise. The arc was designed to run from 1926 up to 1945, the year of the famous Dumbledore-versus-Grindelwald duel in Wizarding World lore. The third film ends with that confrontation set up and waiting: Grindelwald in hiding, Dumbledore finally free to face him.

That duel — arguably the entire destination of the saga — was meant for films four and five. Neither was ever scripted.

Why it stopped at three

The simplest explanation is in the box office. The first film grossed about $814 million worldwide; the second slid to $654 million; the third landed at roughly $407 million — the lowest of any Wizarding World film, Harry Potter included. A franchise built for five instalments was earning less with each one.

Off-screen turbulence did not help: Grindelwald was recast between the second and third films, with Mads Mikkelsen replacing Johnny Depp, and the wider franchise drew sustained controversy. By late 2022, reporting indicated Warner Bros. had no Wizarding World films in active development. Director Yates described the series as "parked," and lead actors have since signalled they expect no return.

So is a fourth film coming?

As of mid-2026, no. Warner Bros. has not formally cancelled films four and five, but it has not moved them forward either, and the studio's Wizarding World attention has shifted decisively to a Harry Potter television reboot for HBO, now in production. A decade-spanning TV series re-telling the original books is a very different bet from finishing a stalled film saga — and most observers read it as the quiet end of Fantastic Beasts.

For the count, that leaves a clean answer with an asterisk. Three films exist. Eleven Wizarding World films exist if you add the eight Harry Potter movies. And the saga itself remains two films short of the story it set out to tell — see our how many Harry Potter films are there page for the other half of the franchise.

The Wizarding World Quiz

Six questions on the films and the saga that wasn't. Every answer is sourced below.

Frequently asked

Sources

• Harry Potter Wiki, "Fantastic Beasts (film series)" (updated June 2026) — films 4 and 5 still not confirmed in development; five-film plan announced October 2016.
• Variety (April 2022) — how scandal and controversy derailed the franchise; box-office figures.
• ScreenRant / ComicBook (2024) — David Yates calling the series "parked"; Eddie Redmayne and Jude Law on its dormant status.
• Box Office Mojo — worldwide grosses: ~$814M (2016), ~$654M (2018), ~$407M (2022).
• Warner Bros. Discovery announcements (2023-2026) — HBO Harry Potter television reboot now in production.

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