Set in New York roughly seven decades before Harry Potter’s saga starts, Fantastic Beasts is based on the Hogwarts textbook of the same name and follows the adventures of its author, Newt Scamander Magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) stops in New York City on his travels to find and document magical creatures. Scamander meets Tina, short for Porpentina (Katherine Waterston), a witch who works her magic in the U.S.