LONDON (Reuters) – Production of the third “Fantastic Beasts” movie has been halted after a team member tested positive for COVID-19, Warner Bros. Pictures said Thursday.
The franchise, an outgrowth of the “Harry Potter” books and movies, plays Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne as the “magic zoologist” Newt Scamander.
The filming took place in September in Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden, outside London, start after the pandemic delayed a start in March 2020, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“A team member from Fantastic Beasts 3 tested positive for COVID-19. The diagnosis was confirmed due to the required and continuous testing that all production staff receive, and the team member is currently in isolation,” a Warner Bros. spokesman said. Pictures said. said in a statement.
“Out of sheer caution, Fantastic Beasts 3 has interrupted production and will be backed up according to safety guidelines.”
The statement does not contain any further details.
The “Fantastic Beasts” movies are set about 70 years before “Harry Potter” and feature younger versions of writers JK Rowling’s characters such as Albus Dumbledore, played by Jude Law.
The upcoming film, which will be released in July 2022, also sees Mads Mikkelsen take on the role of the evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald, originally played by Johnny Depp.
Depp was asked to leave the franchise late last year after losing a defamation suit against a British tabloid newspaper, which branded him a womanizer.
(This story seeks to correct the typo in paragraph 8
(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Edited by Gareth Jones)