Eddie Redmayne has completed narration recordings for the audiobook version of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The textbook from the Harry Potter series was the inspiration for the film of the same name, which starred Redmayne as protagonist Newt Scamander, who later authored the textbook mentioned various times throughout the original series. Along with a reading of the book from the star, however, there will be some additional extras.
The digital audio features a number of extras, including text revisions and updates by Rowling that introduce six new beasts and a new foreword by Scamander. It is being published by Pottermore, Rowling’s digital entertainment, news, and e-commerce company, with a release date of March 14.
The audiobook runs at two hours long and posed some challenges for Redmayne. He gave some additional information about his experiences with the film, as well as narrating the book.
While doing the recording of the book at Audible, Redmayne told the company about his experience bringing his interpretation of Scamander into the studio. “Before I was cast in the film, [director] David Yates told me about Newt and this textbook,” he said. “I found it so funny and so enchanting and really wittily written. But it wasn’t until I started reading it out loud for the audiobook that I realized how tricky and poetic J.K. Rowling’s use of sounds and language can be. There are some really great tongue twister words in here! Occasionally, I had to stop recording just because I was incapable of saying the words without either laughing or getting my tongue in a muddle. I enjoyed the challenge and hope listeners can sense that in my narration.”
If you’ve previously read this book, you know the published version is Harry Potter’s personal copy and the pages.are lined with comments from Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. We are curious if these annotations will be included in the audiobook, or if Redmayne will stick to Scamander’s words. Either way, we are excited to hear Scamander teach us about the beasts he loves in his own voice.