After losing his libel case over the “Wife Beater” saga with the UK’s Sun tabloid newspaper in the UK Courts, Actor Johnny Depp has left the role of Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. The actor, announced via Instagram the decision only a few days after he lost his case against former partner Amber Heard.
“I have been asked to resign by Warner Bros” he stated, indicating this wasn’t his decision, and also fundamentally continues his stance of innocence in the legal proceedings. He continued that he will challenge the court’s decision to “tell the truth” and his “resolve remains strong”.
Now Warner Bros. Pictures has the tough task of recasting primary villain Grindelwald against a backdrop of trouble for the franchise. The initial release of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find them in 2016 took the box office by storm with an impressive $814m.
Johnny Depp leaves the Fantastic Beasts franchise – Who will they cast as Grindelwald?
Read more: Jude Law Cast As Dumbledore In Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald
Arguably its success was largely tributed to the previous dominance of the Harry Potter franchise. Surprisingly, despite being in the same universe, reviews were mixed and the 2018 sequel, Crimes Of Grindelwald took almost $200m less world-wide.
Finishing on $654m worldwide and taking a battering by critics being the lowest-ranked for the whole wizard world franchise on Cinema Score. Prior to the release of the first film a trilogy had been confirmed, with a release date for November 2021 for the final film, yet author JK Rowling stated we would actually see 5 films.
After delays, and bringing previous Harry Potter writer Steve Kloves on-board filming was finally confirmed to be taking place in September 2020. However, with this recent news, and a desire to have a star name on the poster for the vacant role, we can expect this film to be pushed back towards 2022.
What do you think of the news? Who would you choose to take on the role? Let us know in the comments below.
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