It's been a total of four years since Harry Potter was on our cinema screens, but he's never really been gone from the cultural consciousness.

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, the first spin-off from the Harry Potter universe, will hit cinemas this time next year - November 18th, 2016, to be precise - and introduce an entirely unseen world to Potter fans, including what the American world of wizardry looks like.

We've compiled all the rumours, facts and everything else we can get our hands on. Take a look!

SO IS IT A SEQUEL OR WHAT?

No, it's not a sequel. If anything, it's a prequel of sorts. The film takes place in 1926, almost seventy years before the events of the original series. It's not yet known if characters such as Dumbledore will make a cameo appearance or if they'll be referred to, however there's nothing to suggest otherwise as yet.

IS IT BASED ON A BOOK? WHAT'S THE PLOT?

Sort of, not really. JK Rowling wrote the book in 2001 as a sort of in-world encyclopedia for charity, however the screenplay is being written by Rowling and will be her debut as well. As we said, the film is set in 1926 and sees Newt Scamander, a noted xenozoologist who's in the States to meet with the Magical Congress of the United States or MACUSA for short, the American equivalent to the Ministry of Magic. A briefcase has been found that has a sort of TARDIS-like ability to much bigger on the inside than possible. The briefcase houses fantastic beasts (d'uh) and their natural habitats.

However, the briefcase is opened and said fantastic beasts escape and cause chaos in New York. American society, however, isn't as friendly to wizards as England is. In fact, a group of extremists calling themselves The Second Salemers or The New Salem Philanthropic Society - after the Salem Witch Hunts - are looking to wipe out the wizarding community in the States by any means necessary.

WHO'S IN THE CAST?

Eddie Redmayne plays Newt Scamander, an English magizoologist who's in the States to meet with MACUSA and consult on the briefcase. Colin Farrell plays Graves, an American auror - they're like soldiers in the wizarding world - who's sent to track down Scamander when he gets lost in America. Samantha Morton plays Mary Lou, the leader of the Second Salemers and the villain of the film. Relative unknown Dan Fogler plays Jacob Kowalski, a New Yorker no-maj - that's the American equivalent of a Muggle - who's the audience's window into the wizarding world.

Katherine Waterston, who stars in the upcoming Steve Jobs movie, is Porpentina Goldstein, a witch who works for MACUSA and Scamander's love interest. There's also a host of other actors attached in as yet-unconfirmed roles - Ron Perlman, Jon Voight, Doctor Who's Gemma Chan, Selma's Carmen Ejogo and Trainwreck / The Perks Of Being A Wallflower star Ezra Miller will play Samantha Morton's son, Credence.

WILL WE SEE ANY OF THE ORIGINAL HARRY POTTER ACTORS IN IT?

Highly doubtful. As we said, the film's set seventy years before Harry Potter so almost none of those characters would be alive during that time. It's possible that you might see references or nods to them or possibly a younger version of Dumbledore knocking around. But no, you're definitely not going to see Harry Potter or Hermione crowbarred in just for the sake of continuity with what came before.

HOW MANY FILMS WILL THERE BE OR IS THIS JUST A ONCE-OFF?

This is expected to be the first in a trilogy, but obviously, if it doesn't perform well at the box-office, those two will likely be cancelled. That's unlikely, of course, as there really does seem to be a lot of fan support and excitement surrounding it.

WHO'S DIRECTING AND WRITING IT?

David Yates, who directed the last four Harry Potter films - Deathly Hallows Pt. I and II, Half-Blood Prince and Order of the Phoenix - will be in the chair for this one. Alfonoso Cuaron, who directed Prisoner of Azkaban, stated that he was interested in directing it, but nothing ever came of it. He may very well end up directing one of the sequels as Prisoner of Azkaban is considered by many fans to be the best of the series. JK Rowling, as we said, is writing her first screenplay.

SO WHY DO IT? DO WE NEED ANOTHER HARRY POTTER FILM?

The Harry Potter franchise did extremely well for Warner Bros., the studio behind it, and there's still a lot of love out there for that world. Obviously, yes, it's a bit of cash-in to try make another series. Then again, it's not like JK Rowling needs the money. She wouldn't sit down to write a screenplay and allow the film to be made if she didn't have a good reason or a good story to put out there. 

Plus, the casting for this really has been spectacular. Eddie Redmayne, Colin Farrell and Katherine Waterston are all well-known actors who have a good eye for picking the right films. Well, maybe not Redmayne, considering he did Jupiter Ascending. But still, there's a lot of positives here so it's exciting to see what'll happen.

WHEN IT'S OUT?

The film is scheduled for UK / Irish release on November 18th, 2016. That could very well be moved up as it'll be right around the same time as Disney's Moana is scheduled for the week after and Marvel's Doctor Strange is expected the week before.