Fantastic Beasts’ Eddie Redmayne says he ‘doesn’t want to screw up Harry Potter’ as he joins Katherine Waterston at London premiere

Eddie Redmayne has said he doesn’t want to ‘screw up’ the Harry Potter franchise with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Speaking at the London premiere of JK Rowling’s latest magical tale, the actor praised the ‘new energy’ of the Potter spin-off.

“All of us involved in this film were Harry Potter fans, and so if you’re a fan of something you don’t want to be the one that then comes and screw it up,” he said.

“When we read this script it was so filled with wonder, excitement, all the warmth of the Potter films, but set 70 years before with a kind of new energy to it.”

The film takes the Wizarding World back to 1920s New York, focusing on the adventures of ‘Magizoologist’ Newt Scamander as he accidentally unleashes a case of magical creatures.

“In the wizarding world, magical creatures give away that wizards exists, and so they are kind of maligned by the wizarding community,” Redmayne explained.

“He believes that with a proper education system and studying them, that they should all be able to live together. In his [brief]case he’s saved all these creatures from around the world, and in these extraordinary habitats they all live together.”

With a brand new period in history to explore, Redmayne said he was ‘thrilled’ that the film was finally being released – so that he doesn’t have to keep its secrets any more.

“Everything about this film was so shrouded in secrecy,” he explained. “As a cast we’re so bad at keeping secrets that were so thrilled that finally it’s going out in the world and we can stop being in charge of the secret keeping.”

Redmayne’s co-star Katherine Waterston, who plays Porpentina Goldstein, joked that it was a ‘struggle’ working with the Theory of Everything actor.

“It was pretty lame,” she deadpanned. “He’s not that talented, hard-working or good looking, so it was a little bit of a struggle for me honestly. But we got through it.

“No, I mean he’s a dream to work with. He’s so inventive and hard-working and creative, it was a joy working with him.”

Also appearing on the blue carpet were stars Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Carmen Ejogo, as well as director David Yates, producer David Heyman, and JK Rowling herself.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them arrives in UK cinemas on Friday November 18.