Earlier this month it was reported Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal) was in talks to replace Johnny Depp as the Dark wizard Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts 3 only for the actor to chalk it up as a “rumour”. However, Warner Bros. has now officially announced that Mikkelsen will be taking over the role for the third film and presumably the rest of the instalments in the franchise.
Fantastic Beasts 3 began production in the late summer and Depp had already filmed one scene as Grindelwald before he was asked to leave by Warner Bros. after losing a libel case with The Sun. With Mikkelsen now onboard, that scene will likely be re-shot or re-edited as he takes on the role of the evil wizard.
Gellert Grindelwald was a minor character in the Harry Potter franchise who was a Dark wizard that tried to rule the Wizarding World decades before Voldemort rose to power. The last book in the series detailed the friendship between he and Dumbledore in their youth before they fought on opposite sides of the war in a battle that made Dumbledore a legend. The Fantastic Beasts franchise has followed Grindelwald’s own rise as Newt Scamander gets caught up in these fateful events.
Fantastic Beasts 3 is being directed by David Yates from a screenplay by franchise creator J.K. Rowling and Steve Kloves. Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Ezra Miller, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Katherine Waterston, and Jessica Williams are all set to return to the cast as Newt Scamander, Albus Dumbledore, Credence/Aurelius Dumbledore, Queenie Goldstein, Jacob Kowalski, Tina Goldstein, and Professor Eulalie Hicks respectively. The film is currently scheduled to debut on July 15th 2022.
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.
