casting

Mads Mikkelsen Might Replace Johnny Depp in Fantastic Beasts

Photo: Massimo Insabato/Archivio Massimo Insabato/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images

Just days after Johnny Depp revealed he was booted from the Fantastic Beasts franchise, stoic Danish dreamboat Mads Mikkelsen is in early talks to replace him as Gellert Grindelwald. Per Deadline, Mikkelsen is director David Yates’s first choice to play the character in the upcoming third Fantastic Beasts film (the franchise will have five films in total). The third film, which also stars Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander and Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore, is currently shooting. The film was originally slated to premiere on November 12, 2021 but was recently pushed to summer 2022. Depp announced he was ousted from the franchise last week on Instagram; he claimed that Warner Bros. asked him to resign following his loss of a libel case against British tabloid The Sun. In his Instagram statement, Depp confirmed that he will appeal and wrote that his “life and career will not be defined by this moment in time.”

Mads Mikkelsen Might Replace Johnny Depp in Fantastic Beasts