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Eddie Redmayne Set To Narrate ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Audiobook

By Liz Kelley
Published on: 05:51 PST, Jan 27, 2017

J.K. Rowling’s Hogwarts Library textbook, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, is coming to Audible, and the narrator is none other than Eddie Redmayne–Newt Scamander himself.

Pottermore announced the upcoming release on Friday. The company will be publishing it, but it’ll be available via the audiobook seller, Audible.com.

Andy Gaies, Audible Chief Content Officer, vouched for the company’s excitement

“Ever since we first made the Harry Potter series available on Audible in 2015, they have been consistently among the highest rated, most downloaded, and most listened to audiobooks in our store.”

Eddie Redmayne is an obvious pick, of course. After all, his is the only voice of Newt Scamander that we’ve ever known. So why shouldn’t he narrate Newt’s famous textbook?

According to Entertainment Weekly, Eddie discovered the textbook after he got his role in the film, and he was immediately hooked. Redmayne recalls that he loved the humor and how “enchanting” the book was. He specifically noted the wit behind the writing.

Redmayne also said–as he has often said at other times–author J.K. Rowling’s use of language is one of her best traits. And that holds in this book as well.

“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.”

Eddie Redmayne has often mentioned his admiration for Rowling’s writing. When talking about the mating dance scene in Fantastic Beasts (sorry for any spoilers), he mentioned that it was so casually mentioned in the script–a script which, by the way, was written by the acclaimed author herself. Redmayne had to do a double take after reading the short queue prompting Newt to perform a mating dance. To this day, Eddie seems to love telling this story.

As mentioned before, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them has not been on Audible before now: this will be its official premiere. Today reported that this edition of the textbook will be unique from the familiar, pre-film version.

“It’s the first time ‘Fantastic Beasts’ is being released as a digital audiobook, and to mark the occasion Rowling has added a new foreword by Scamander and new beasts.”

J.K. Rowling is famous not only for her novels, “textbooks,” Pottermore presence and her Twitter voice, but also for her big heart for others and her interest in charities. Rowling has even begun her own charity, Lumos, whose goal is to help families who need it, Vanity Fair said. Particularly, the organization helps provide needy families with the aid that they need and assists them in avoiding government institutionalization as a mere “quick fix.”

Even Emma Watson has reached out via Twitter in support of Rowling’s charity, the news source reported.

The shirt reads the motto of the charity.

“We do not need magic to transform our world; we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already.”

In line with what we know of J.K., she has confirmed that the proceeds from this new audiobook will have a charitable end.

[Featured Image via Warner Bros.]

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