Colin Farrell to play wizard in Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Prequel is set 70 years before the Harry Potter series

Colin Farrell will join Eddie Redmayne and Katherine Waterston in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a prequel to the Harry Potter series.

Farrell, currently starring in HBO's True Detective, will play a wizard called Graves who meets Newt Scamander (Redmayne) in New York, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film centres on Scamander's adventures as he documents various magical creatures discovered among the witch and wizard community, compiling an encyclopedia that 70 years later will be studied by Harry Potter and his classmates at Hogwarts.

David Yates, who helmed four of the Harry Potter films, will direct, with Inherent Vice's Katherin Waterston, The Perks of Being a Wallflower's Ezra Miller and Dig's Alison Sudol.

Rowling will serve as a co-producer on Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them, which has a scheduled theatrical release date of 18 November, 2016.

@christophhooton