British actor Jude Law will play a young version of Hogwarts' venerable headmaster Albus Dumbledore in the second film of J.K. Rowling's "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" franchise.
Warner Bros. film studio said on Wednesday that Law would play Dumbledore decades before he became the headmaster of Hogwarts, the school where Harry Potter and his friends learned to become wizards and fight dark forces in society.
Potter author Rowling has also written the screenplay for the second of the "Fantastic Beasts" franchise, which is set 70 years before Harry Potter goes to Hogwarts, Warner Bros. said in a statement.
"We are thrilled to have Jude Law joining the 'Fantastic Beasts' cast, playing a character so universally adored," said Toby Emmerich, president and chief content officer of Warner Bros. Pictures.
The first "Fantastic Beasts" film, released in Nov 2016, made some $813 million at the global box office. A total of five films are planned for the franchise.
The second of the movies, which is yet to be titled, is due for release in November 2018.
The Fantastic Beasts Twitter handle put out an article by Pottermore, the official site for the Harry Potter universe, welcoming Law to the Harry Potter universe.
