It has been 5 years since the last Harry Potter movie was shown. But this year's newly released movie, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", a fictional character made and written by J.K. Rowling herself has brought the wizarding world back to life.
Newt Scamander was, indeed, shown in the Harry Potter film series --- specifically on "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban". When George and Fred showed the Marauder's Map (where you can see every person roaming around Hogwarts) to Harry, it clearly showed Newt Scamander's name. He was in a room somewhere in the Hogwarts castle.
It goes to show that he already existed long before this new movie, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", was released. It was a very interesting detail, which kindled the creative imaginations of some fans and made their own theories on why Scamander was in Hogwarts at that time.
The most sensible theory so far was that Newt's visiting Dumbledore; his professor back in Hogwarts, who strongly disagreed and fought against the decision to expel him from Hogwarts. It might also suggest that there's some sort of blood relationship between them. Dumbledore writes the forward to Newt's book as well, so maybe Newt's visit was in regards to that, Cinema Blend reported.
Scamander might not be seen in the film series, but you can watch him portrayed by Eddie Redmayne in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" --- as he goes on adventures, which mostly involves magical creatures, that were only happening within the secret community of witches and wizards in New York. This was 70 years before Harry Potter himself used this book as reference during his school days in Hogwarts.
The movie was released last November 8, 2016 in different countries.
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