Warner Bros. has officially announced that actor Mads Mikkelsen will be replacing Johnny Depp in the role of dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts film franchise. According to Deadline, Mikkelsen is now officially on the project, though there were early rumors he was the top choice to bring onto the film.
Depp was asked to leave the project by Warner Bros. sometime shortly after he lost his libel case against the British tabloid The Sun. He posted on his Instagram that: “I have been asked to resign by Warner Bros. from my role as Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts and I have respected and agreed to that request.”
The deal must have been penned very recently, give that on Monday, November 23, the actor told IGN: “Oh, that is on the rumor basis as we speak,” Mikkelsen said about replacing Depp. “So I know as much as you do from the newspapers. So I’m waiting for that phone call.”
Mikkelsen joins fellow cast mates Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Callum Turner, William Nadylam, Poppy Corby-Tuech, Jessica Williams, Victoria Yeates, and Jude Law in the third installment in the franchise.
Fantastic Beasts 3 is set to premiere in theaters on July 15, 2022.
