fantastic beasts and where to find them 2
CNN  — 

Fantastic news for muggles eager to return to the Wizarding World: the next installment of the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise has a release date.

Warner Bros. Pictures on Monday announced the third “Fantastic Beasts” film will hit theaters Nov. 12, 2021.

Production on the new film, the third of an expected five, is set to begin in spring.

The first two “Fantastic Beast” films were released in 2016 and 2018, respectively.

Toby Emmerich, chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, said the 2021 release date would “give the filmmakers time and space to allow their artistry to truly flourish and deliver the best possible film to our fans.” (Warner Bros., like CNN, is a unit of WarnerMedia.)

Set in the same universe that propelled the “Harry Potter” series, “Fantastic Beasts” stars Eddie Redmayne as the charmingly awkward zoologist Newt Scamander.

The second film, “The Crimes of Grindelwald,” in which Johnny Depp joined the cast to some backlash, came up short at the box office compared to both the first film and the “Harry Potter” franchise, grossing $159 million domestically and $654 million worldwide, according to figures from Box Office Mojo.

The first “Fantastic Beasts” film earned $234 million domestically and more than $800 million worldwide.

Comparatively, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” was the lowest earning film of the “Harry Potter” franchise, with $249 million domestic gross.

“We are incredibly excited about and have confidence in the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ series,” Emmerich said.