Muggles Referred to as "No-Maj" By American Wizards in FANTASTIC BEASTS; Plus, Read What The Movie's About

Here's something that's sure to knock Harry Potter fans off their Nimbus 2000s. The term "muggle" (a person without any magical ability) has become a staple of the pop culture lexicon since its debut in J.K. Rowling's novels, but that term is apparently only used by the English. In America, where the upcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them takes place, Americans have a different term for the magically deprived: "No-Maj," like "no magic." Do a quick search on Twitter to see what kind of reaction that's getting from fans of the franchise (hint: people don't like it very much.) But keep in mind: this comes directly from the mind of J.K. Rowling herself, since she's making her screenwriting debut with this film.

Meanwhile, EW (who has released a few new photos from the movie) is slowly releasing other Fantastic Beasts-related info, and they've just unveiled a mostly spoiler-free premise of the movie. If you want to go into this movie knowing nothing about the plot, then this is the part where you click away to something else. But if you don't mind finding out the basic generalization of what the movie is about, then read on:

Eccentric magizoologist Newt Scamander (Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne) comes to New York (for a reason we won’t disclose) with his trusty weathered case. This case is one of those way-way-way-bigger-on-the-inside magical devices, and within are expansive habitats for a collection of rare and endangered magical creatures from Newt’s travels around globe. He discovers the American wizarding community is fearfully hiding from Muggles (who are called “No-Maj” in the States) and the threat of public exposure is an even graver concern than in the UK (remember the Salem witch trials?). Fantastic Beasts is the story of what happens when this uniquely skilled English wizard travels to wiz-phobic America and a variety of his creatures, some quite dangerous…get out of their case.

Sounds like fun. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will hit theaters on November 18th, 2016.