Harry Potter fans are still cheering from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’s Oscar win last Sunday. And they should be, because not only did it deserve the win for Best Achievement in Costume Design (having tough competition with Allied (2016), Florence Foster Jenkins (2016), La La Land (2016), and Jackie (2016)), but it also marks the first time ever that the Harry Potter universe has won an Academy Award. While Fantastic Beasts is not strictly about the character of Harry Potter, it is in the same J.K. Rowling world, and most definitely counts here.

Most fans and perhaps even non-fans who saw the film would agree that the film should have also been nominated for Best Original Score. The musicality of the film felt fresh and emotional, with its sweeping notes, musical magic, and vivid imagination. It completely sucked the audience into this Wizarding World we all know and love, and in a new way (while still giving hints to John Williams’ original themes). Well done Mr. James Newton Howard. Even though not much stood a chance in this category against La La Land’s amazing music, Fantastic Beasts was certainly overlooked in at least being nominated.

While this Costume Design Oscar is the first win for a Potter film, it is certainly not the first nomination. Besides Fantastic Beasts’ other justified nomination of Best Achievement in Production Design, which it also lost to La La Land, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001) was nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score by John Williams.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) was nominated for Best Original Score by John Williams and Best Achievement in Visual Effects, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) was nominated for Best Achievement in Art Direction, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) was nominated for Best Achievement in Cinematography, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) was nominated for Best Achievement in Visual Effects and Best Achievement in Art Direction, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) was nominated for Best Achievement in Makeup and Best Achievement in Visual Effects. It’s about time Harry had a win! Personally, while it might not have had a realistic shot at winning, I think Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 should have been nominated for Best Picture. Yeah, I said it. Not just as a Potter fan, but as a fan of great movies.

Something that made Fantastic Beasts so great was its four main characters, Newt (Eddie Redmayne), Tina (Katherine Waterston), Jacob (Dan Fogler), and Queenie (Alison Sudol), who were masterfully written and enthrallingly portrayed to make the audience care about them and fall in love with each of them. We can’t wait to hopefully see more of them in the future.

Potter fans don’t have too long to wait for the next film in the presumably five-part series, with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2 (tentative title) releasing next year on November 16^th, 2018, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 3 (tentative title) releasing on November 20^th, 2020. The fourth and fifth films will be released in 2022 and 2024, respectively.  

Watch the Oscar win from the Academy Award ceremony below!