Colin Farrell Joins Harry Potter Spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them!

True Detective star receives a wand for his next role

Detective Velcoro is swapping his gun for a wand.

Colin Farrell is joining the Harry Potter spinoff film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, E! News has learned. The Irish actor, most recently seen in season two of True Detective, will play Graves, a wizard that Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) meets in New York. 

The prequel follows Newt's adventures in the secret community of witches and wizards while he tries to document magical creatures in the Big Apple. The events of author J.K. Rowling's prequel take place about 70 years before Harry Potter and his pals read Newt's famed textbook of the same name at Hogwarts.

Other stars appearing in the highly anticipated spinoff include Katherine Waterston, Ezra Miller and Alison Sudol. Fantastic Beasts will be a trilogy, with films lining up for release in 2016, 2018 and 2020. Rowling is penning the script, while David Yates, who helmed the last four Harry Potter movies, is directing.

"I am so thrilled to be a part of it but I can't say a single word beyond that," Redmayne shared about his own casting news. "I've always loved that world and I feel thrilled to be invited into it."

Waterston is set to play Porpentina, a witch who uses her magic in America. It's there that she also meets Newt, the magizoologist.

Warner Bros. Pictures' president of creative development and worldwide production, Greg Silverman, said upon her casting, "Katherine Waterston is a rising star, who was a revelation in our film Inherent Vice, earning the praise of both critics and audiences. We are thrilled to have her back in the Warner Bros. family."

Are you excited for Fantastic Beasts? Sound off in the comments below!

The Hollywood Reporter was first to report the news.