Actor Johnny Depp leaves the franchise for Fantastic Beasts and has confirmed that he will no longer portray the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. This comes after he lost his libel case against The Sun over an article alleging he was a wife-beater.
Depp still plans to appeal the judgment of the Libel Case, but in a recent letter to fans, he confirmed that he would have no involvement in the next installment of the Harry Potter spinoff franchise, Fantastic Beasts. Depp made his first appearance in the franchise in 2018’s The Crimes of Grindelwald. He was set to reprise his role in the third movie.
As the news came out, Depp updated his fans on what has been going on through his Instagram. “I wish to let you know 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,” he said. Warner Bros. has since revealed that Depp’s role will be recast, subsequently pushing the release date of the movie back. However, they are still thankful for Depp’s work on the movies to date. “We thank Johnny for his work on the films to date,” a spokesperson said.
Wow. Johnny Depp out of the FANTASTIC BEASTS films. pic.twitter.com/YNmTM7ZGRp
— Josh Horowitz (@joshuahorowitz) November 6, 2020
Fantastic Beasts 3 commenced filming earlier this year and ended up being one of the many movie and TV sets that needed to be shut down due to coronavirus concerns. It is unclear how many scenes Depp shot as Grindelwald. If he featured in any scenes already filmed, they would now need to be reshot.
The original release date for the yet-to-be-titled Fantastic Beasts 3 was previously set for November 2021. The new release window confirms the movie for some time in the summer of 2022. Of course, there are a lot of unanswered questions at the moment. Johnny Depp leaves the Franchise and leaves us wondering about the future. What do you think?
