Mads Mikkelsen Set to Replace Johnny Depp in "Fantastic Beasts 3"

Actor Mads Mikkelsen, the star of "Hannibal" and "Doctor Strange," fame is set to take on the role of the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald in "Fantastic Beasts 3."

Mikkelsen to replace Depp

Variety reported that after playing Grindelwald in the first two "Fantastic Beasts" movie, Depp announced on November 6 that Warner Bros. had asked him to resign from the role after he lost his libel trial in the U.K.

The libel case pertained to the headline made by The Sun that labeled the actor as a wife-beater and wrote about the alleged abuse he did to ex-wife Amber Heard.

The movie is now in the works in the U.K. According to an unnamed source familiar with the project, Depp had shot just one scene was the dark wizard character before he was asked to leave the franchise. That means Mikkelsen would not need to replicate much footage.

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The role of Grindelwald is within Mikkelsen's wheelhouse for playing intelligent villains. Author J.K Rowling said that Grindelwald is a brilliant and ruthless dark wizard who, in his youth, maintained a complicated romantic relationship with Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore is played by Jude Law in the "Fantastic Beasts" franchise.

Upon hearing of Mikkelsen's casting, fans of the actor immediately compared Grindelwald and Dumbledore's relationship to the homoerotic psycho-sexual tension between Mikkelsen's Hannibal Lecter and Hugh Dancy's F.B.I. profiler Will Graham on the N.B.C. series "Hannibal."

Grindelwald is set to join the already assembled cast of the franchise: Jude Law, Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, and Ezra Miller.

David Yates will direct the film from a screenplay by J.K Rowling and Steve Kloves. The producers of the film are Kloves, Rowling, David Heyman, and Lionel Wigram. It's scheduled to release is on July 15, 2022.

Depp's case

According to Insider, Hollywood experts say that Johnny Depp's career is over and Warner Bros. asking him to resign from the "Fantastic Beasts" franchise is just the beginning.

In a 129-page ruling, Judge Andrew Nicol of the High Court in London dismissed the actor's libel claim against the U.K. newspaper The Sun. The case was over a 2018 article that referred to him as a wife-beater in connection to the abuse allegations filed by his ex-wife Amber Heard.

According to the judge, the article was substantially true, making Depp lose his case. During the trial that lasted for 16 days, Depp and Heard's entire marriage was picked apart with excruciating detail. The lawyers talked about their marriage's details that lasted for 15 months and revealed excesses of Depp's toxic and drug-fueled lifestyle were revealed.

Johnny Depp first found fame on the 80s T.V. show "21 Jump Street." He then ascended to Hollywood stardom with Tim Burton's film "Edward Scissorhands," where he met his future partner Winona Ryder.

Depp also won acclaim for his roles in films such as "What's Eating Gilbert Grape." "Donnie Brasco" and "Sleepy Hollow." Since 2003, the actor has been best known as Captain Jack Sparrow in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie franchise.

The actor was nominated for an Oscar in 2004 for his work on the film "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," By 2015, with the fifth installment of the franchise, Depp was estimated to be earning $55 million per movie.