The deeper into the movies you get, the darker they become. The story picks up in 2017, during the epilogue from Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, and features the now grown-up Harry, Hermione, Ron and Draco Malfoy, and their kids. That places the Harry Potter films some 70 years after their Fantastic Beasts counterparts.Īnd Harry Potter’s story does continue beyond the final reckoning with Lord Voldemort – though not on screen – thanks to the hit stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. While the movies were made in the ’00s – and feature the occasional anachronism such as 21st century mobile phones or music – it’s probable they follow the same carefully crafted timeline as Rowling’s books.
That means each of the seven books in the Potter series focus on a different school year (running from September to August), starting in 1991, when Harry’s 11 years old.
We know that the series will end with a duel between Albus Dumbledore and former BFF-turned-nemesis Gellert Grindelwald in 1945, but everything in between is currently a mystery. Warner Bros is planning for the Fantastic Beasts saga to run to five movies, so – assuming The Secrets of Dumbledore does the business at the box office – there’ll be another two instalments after that. There are eight Harry Potter films, and two instalments in the Fantastic Beasts to date – the third instalment of that series, now titled The Secrets of Dumbledore, will be released in April 2022, and will be set some time in the two decades between 19.
Here's how to watch the Harry Potter movies in chronological order, as well as the Fantastic Beasts prequel series.