Growing up with the wonderful world of Harry Potter was absolutely magical for millions of readers and audiences. J.K. Rowling’s novels encouraged more children to read than perhaps any other author’s body of work, and the movie franchise was nothing short of a sensation.
Most long-term fans were in their twenties or nearing adulthood by the time The Deathly Hallows came out. While they had grown up with Harry and Ron, growing up shouldn’t mean giving up on the wizarding world.
In 2016, Potterheads were delighted to be welcomed back to the universe via Fantastic Beasts and where to find them.
In 2018, The Crimes of Grindelwald was a satisfying sequel. Some are now curious if the actor playing Gellert has been replaced.
Is Johnny Depp still playing Gellert in Fantastic Beasts 3 or is it someone else?
Is Johnny Depp in Fantastic Beasts 3?
Johnny Depp will not be returning to the role of Grindelwald, in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. Instead, Mads Mikkelsen has been cast.
Deadline highlights that the 58-year-old star of Pirates of the Caribbean and beyond was asked by Warner Bros to step down from the part in the third Fantastic Beasts installment after he lost a libel case.
Johnny entered a legal battle with a British tabloid after they described him in a derogatory fashion in relation to his marriage with Amber Heard. Johnny was forced to leave the project after only one day of filming.
Although he received full pay despite not being in the film, he initially had a five-film deal with Warner Bros that he ultimately stood to lose as a result of the decision.
Officially, Mads, a Danish actor, has agreed to be his replacement. The film will release on Friday, 15 April 2022.
“That would be creative suicide”
Mads has previously impressed in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher films, Another Round, Casino Royale, the Hannibal series, and many more efforts.
He’s an incredibly accomplished actor, but as he addresses in an interview with Collider, approaching a role that has already been played by another comes with certain challenges:
“Nobody’s interested in me going in there and trying to copy anything, that would be creative suicide immediately, especially when it’s been done before and masterfully. So everybody’s expecting us to find a different path.”
He continued: “Having said that, we need a bridge between what he did and what I’m gonna do, so those bridges you have to find together, whether it’s a certain look, whether it’s a certain attitude in certain situations, but you have to make it your own. Anything else would be plainly just creatively stupid.”
Fans shouldn’t expect Mads’ portrayal of Grindelwald to be exactly the same as Johnny’s under these circumstances. It will be interesting to see his unique talents as a dark wizard.
Variety reported on fan backlash regarding Johnny’s casting in the franchise back in 2018 and J.K. Rowling stood by the decision to have him tackle the role: “the filmmakers and I are not only comfortable sticking with our original casting but genuinely happy to have Johnny playing a major character in the movies.”
This led to the author receiving some heat online and Johnny himself weighed in on the situation, saying he “felt bad” for J.K. having to take that.
Addressing the reasons for the backlash, Johnny explained: “The fact remains I was falsely accused, which is why I’m suing the Sun newspaper for defamation for repeating false accusations.”
He adds that J.K. supported him because she had “seen the evidence”.
Despite being kept on for The Crimes of Grindelwald, we now know that he was ultimately let go once the aforementioned case didn’t go in his favor.