Hannibal actor Mads Mikkelsen will replace Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts 3.
Hannibal actor Mads Mikkelsen will replace Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts 3, after Depp was asked to step down.
Fantastic Beasts 3 Replacement Announced
The Danish actor has taken on the role left vacant by Johnny Depp.
The movie is already in production at Warner Bros’ Leavesden studio in the UK. It comes after the studio asked Depp to resign after he lost his libel trial against The Sun.
Johnny Depp announced that he ‘respected and agreed’ to the request in amessage on Instagram, adding that he would carry on the fight to prove his innocence following a judge ruling that the claims he was a “wife beater” were “substantially true.” He wrote:
“My resolve remains strong and I intend to prove that the allegations against me are false.
My life and career will not be defined by this moment in time.”
Mads Mikkelsen had been heavily linked with the role and has now finally been chosen as the replacement, however the Casino Royale actor told reporters at the time that he knew as much as the newspapers did. Fantastic Beasts 3 is still set for a summer 2022 release date given the fact that Depp had only filmed one scene from the movie before the court ruling, as producers pre-empted problems future prolems.
Johnny Depp ‘pay or play’ contract allowed him to keep the $10 million that he was paid for the role despite not filming all his scenes. Warner Bros. released a statement confirming that the role would be re-cast following Depp’s court ruling, and thanking Depp for his work in previous films, declaring:
“Johnny Depp will depart the Fantastic Beasts franchise. We thank Johnny for his work on the films to date.” Gellert Grindelwald’s character first appeared as a cameo in the 2016 movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, before coming back in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
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