Johnny Depp’s time as the villainous Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts films is over. The actor has taken to his Instagram account to share an official statement about his exiting of the role from the Harry Potter prequel series and the defamation court case in the UK led to his departure. Check out his statement here…
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Johnny Depp first stepped into the role of Gellert Grindelwald in a surprise reveal at the end of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Depp then made an appearance in the Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, where the character motioned the actions for the next films in the franchise.
In the last few months, Depp has been in a legal battle with UK tabloid newspaper The Sun. He brought a libel lawsuit against the paper for calling him a “wife beater” in a 2018 article, which stemmed from his heated relationship with actress Amber Heard. On November 2nd, 2020, the High Court of Justice ruled that Depp had lost his claim, something that the actor says he plans to appeal in his above statement.
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Warner Bros. has now confirmed that: “The role of Gellert Grindelwald will be recast. The film will debut in theaters worldwide in the summer of 2022.”