Fantastic Beasts: Mads Mikkelsen will replace Johnny Depp as Grindelwald

Image source, Getty Images

Actor Mads Mikkelsen will replace Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts films, Warner Bros has announced.

Johnny Depp played the dark wizard Grindelwald in the previous two Fantastic Beasts films, but announced that he would be leaving the series in an open letter earlier this month.

Mads Mikkelsen is a famous Danish actor, who has previously starred in films like Rogue One, from the Star Wars franchise, and Marvel's Doctor Strange.

The third Fantastic Beasts film, which follows the events that happened before the Harry Potter series, is due to be released in summer 2022, and will pick up from where The Crimes of Grindlewald left off.

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard attended the trial in London in July

Johnny Depp left the Fantastic Beasts series not long after the actor lost his case when he took a newspaper to court because it published a story saying he had hit his wife, Amber Heard. The couple divorced in 2017.

Johnny Depp denied the claims, but a High Court judge ruled that the actor did subject his ex-wife to domestic abuse on twelve occasions.