AceShowbiz - The "Fantastic Beasts" franchise has been paused. Director David Yates, who helmed all three of the movies in the series so far, as well as the final four "Harry Potter" films, admitted making 2022's "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore" amid the COVID-19 pandemic had been "tough" so he and the rest of the team are relieved to be taking a break from the wizarding world.

"With Beasts, it's all just parked. We made those three movies, the last one through a pandemic, and it was enormous fun but it was tough. We were actually filming when there wasn't a vaccine," David told the "Inside Total Film" podcast.

"Thankfully, no one got sick, but we did have the most detailed protocols in place. We're all so proud of [Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore] and when it went out into the world, we just needed to sort of stop and pause, and take it easy."

Writer J.K. Rowling had previously revealed there would be five movies in the series, but David admitted her claim took him by surprise. He said, "The idea that there were going to be five films was a surprise to most of us. [JK Rowling] just mentioned it spontaneously, at a press screening once. No one had told us there were going to be five, we'd committed to the first one."

The 60-year-old filmmaker is sure the franchise will return to screens one day. He added, "I'm sure at some point, we'll be back. But yeah, I haven't spoken to Jo, I haven't spoken to [producer] David Heyman, I haven't spoken to Warner Bros; we're just taking a pause. It's quite nice. It allows me to do [other things]."

Earlier this year, Eddie Redmayne - who led the "Fantastic Beasts" cast as Newt Scamander - admitted he was unsure if there would be a fourth movie following the third film's unimpressive performance at the box office. He told NME, "I mean, at the moment, there's nothing that I'm aware of. As I'm aware, it's not something that's on the cards."