Jordan Karlesson
Johnny Depp might return to Fantastic Beasts, according to Mads Mikkelsen, who replaced him in the franchise.
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While Depp played Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald in the series’ first two installments, Mikkelsen took the role in the third installment. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore hit theaters in April, shortly before Depp’s court battle with ex-wife Amber Heard began.
Mikkelsen recently told Deadline that he found it “very intimidating” to step into the Grindelwald role after Fantastic Beasts’ creators asked Depp to quit.
“Obviously, well, now the course has changed — he won the suit, the court [case] — so let’s see if he comes back,” Mikkelsen said. “He might. I’m a big fan of Johnny. I think he’s an amazing actor, I think he did a fantastic job.”
Mikkelsen added: “Having said that, I could not copy it. There’s there was no way I could just copy it, because it’s so much him. It would be creative suicide. So, we had to come up with something else, something that was mine, and build a bridge between him and me.”
Mikkelsen also remarked on how Depp’s fanbase — which was very vocal during the trial — reacted to him taking the role.
“His fans were very, very sweet, but they were also very stubborn,” Mikkelsen said. “I didn’t interact too much with them, but I could understand why they had their hearts broken.”
When Johnny Depp Left Fantastic Beasts
Depp played Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018).
But the on-screen trajectory of the character changed after a critic wrote a column in 2018 with the headline “GONE POTTY: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife-beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?”
Depp claimed that not only did he not abuse Amber Heard during their relationship, but that she was the abuser, saying he told Heard several times that the marriage was “a crime scene waiting to happen.”
Per Deadline, Depp was asked to resign from the third Fantastic Beasts film after losing the case.
