Katherine Waterston Lands Female Role in FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

The Harry Potter prequel has found its female lead. Inherent Vice actress Katherine Waterston will star opposite of Eddie Redmayne in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Warner Bros. announced on Monday.

Waterson will play "Tina, short for Porpentina, a witch who — unlike the beloved characters from [JK Rowling]'s Harry Potter books — works her magic in the U.S. She meets magizoologist Newt Scamander (Redmayne) when he stops in New York City on his travels to find and document magical creatures."

The actress recently appeared with Joaquin Phoenix in director Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice last year, and she'll next play Chrisann Brennan in Steve Jobs. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will definitely be Waterston's biggest role.

"Katherine Waterston is a rising star, who was a revelation in our film Inherent Vice, earning the praise of both critics and audiences," Warner Bros. Pictures President of Creative Development and Worldwide Production Greg Silverman said in a statement. "We are thrilled to have her back in the Warner Bros. family, especially in one of our most anticipated titles for 2016, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."

Based on a report last month, Waterston was in the running for the role of Queenie, Tina's older sister.  She was up against Kate Upton and Elizabeth Debicki for the role. Saoirse Ronan, Dakota Fanning, Lili Simmons and Alison Sudol were supposedly the actresses vying to play Tina. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the casting for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them shakes out now that Waterston snagged a role that wasn't rumored to be in the running for.