Humans star Gemma Chan joins Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them
The actress is one of three new additions – including Jon Voight – to the cast of the magical movie, due for release in 2016
Newt Scamander may have to search far and wide for Fantastic Beasts but the casting directors obviously didn't have to go too far from home to find talent because they've just added Humans star Gemma Chan to the line-up.
The London born actress, who already has roles in shows like Fresh Meat, Doctor Who, Sherlock, Bedlam and Dates under her belt, joins Hollywood heavyweight Jon Voight and Selma star Carmen Ejogo in the latest round of castings, The Hollywood Reporter revealed.
It's not clear who Chan, Voight or Ejogo will play in the film – unlike with the main Harry Potter stories, character details are scarce in JK Rowling's source book – but it already features Eddie Redmayne as magizoologist Scamander, along with Katherine Waterston, Ezra Miller, Colin Farrell, Dan Fogler and Samantha Morton.
Chan has been enjoying international support of late, as Humans broadcast in the USA on AMC, and is due to be aired in Brazil later this month.
Series two of the AI drama – written by Spooks scribes Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley in a co-production between Channel 4 and US broadcaster AMC – is slated to shoot next year, so if Chan is to be involved we're guessing Fantastic Beasts will get her on set ASAP.
The first episode of Humans drew Channel 4’s highest-ever drama ratings at 6.1 million viewers, and maintained an audience of around 4.8 million week by week – but we're guessing Fantastic Beasts will pull Chan out of the muggle world, doing magical things for her career in the process.
