Eddie Redmayne Brings “Fantastic Beasts” Sneak Peak to EW PopFest!

Eddie Redmayne (Newt Scamander) and co-star Katherine Waterston (Tina Goldstein) appeared this weekend at EW PopFest to share some exclusive Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them clips. Four new clips were shown, according to Entertainment Weekly.

The first saw Redmayne’s [M]agizoologist Newt Scamander arriving to New York; the second introduced one of Newt’s many beasts to the screen; the third offered a look inside his mysterious case; and the fourth had Ezra Miller […] discussing a potential connection between the film and Gellert Grindelwald.

The duo also talked about the film, and Katherine shared the cast’s amazement at the recent announcement that there would be five films in the series, rather than three.

When she said we were doing five, that was news to us… there’s so much that we’re not privy to.

Eddie added,

The thing is that it’s [Rowling’s] imagination. She has such a passion for it and a specific story that she wants to tell, and we get glimpses into that, and as Katherine said, it’s insanely exhilarating when that happens.

Eddie expanded on how Newt and Fantastic Beasts will allow a bigger story to be told.

I think Fantastic Beasts the title and Newt and his creatures are a way into this world, but there’s a much bigger story here about good versus evil that she wants to tell, and you haven’t seen much of it in the trailers and the clips of the film. But it’s really a core of the story that she’s telling, and it has an epic, epic quality to it. … So I do see that [Fantastic Beasts] is a macro story that could take more time.

Newt and Tina’s developing relationship was also up for discussion. As Eddie explains,

It’s not love at first sight; put it that way – maybe there’s a bit of chemistry at first sight, but it’s quite combative. But what was lovely was to play a slow build, to be able to play this kind of — these characters are thrown into a world, this quartet together [Newt, Tina, her sister Queenie, and No-Maj Jacob Kowalski]. They’re all outsiders in some ways, and yet they have really heroic qualities within them. So it’s kind of lovely for us to not rush that and be able to play it slow.

Where do you think the Grindelwald arc will take the film series? How will Newt fit into the story? Were you at EW PopFest? Let us know in the comments!