Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the official announcement to what we all knew already. Mostly unknown director David Yates has landed in the HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX director's chair.

Yates is most known for his TV work like STATE OF PLAY, which I don't think has gotten much, if any, play in the States. I've gotten emailed from people in the past about his work and they say it's top notch, so I'm happy to give him a chance at Hogwarts. I can't wait to see his cast fall into place. Who's Umbridge!?!?

FILM LONDON recently interviewed Yates about his work and he talks a little bit about doing the next POTTER film. Read the full interview here!

Were you surprised to be asked to direct the latest Harry Potter installment? 

I was really thrilled, and excited by the prospect. It’s the kind of scale of film I’ve wanted to make since I was 14. Since The Way We live Now I’d been getting film offers coming through, but none of them were that interesting, though I had done a lot of work getting a film version of Brideshead Revisited ready – though we just fell short of our budget.

How do you feel about this project?

I’m really looking forward to it, and am working my way through all of the books, and starting to get a bit addicted to the world which is fantastic and wonderfully realised. 

The whole of the UK was gripped with Harry Potter fever when the books were first released, did you rush to the bookshops with the masses?

I hadn’t read a Potter book until earlier this year, because I was so busy making stuff or reading other scripts, so it has been a real pleasure to catch up with everyone else over the past weeks and months. 

Hmmm, I'm glad he's digging the books now. Let's just hope he gets the details right, which still hasn't been 100% nailed correctly in any of the POTTER films to date. Anyway, it's official now, so celebrate and be merry!