Fantastic Beasts 3: Why Johnny Depp was replaced by Mads Mikkelsen as Gellert Grindelwald

gamesradar.com:

Fantastic Beasts 3 – AKA Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore – sees Mads Mikkelsen take over from Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald, Depp having played the villain in the previous two Fantastic Beasts movies, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald. His departure from the series, though, was not an amicable one.

Back in 2020, The Hollywood Reporter (opens in new tab) published a piece revealing that Depp had been filming the third installment in the Harry Potter prequel series when a decision was made by Warner Bros. chairman Toby Emmerich to remove the actor from the project. The move came after a court ruled that the British tabloid The Sun won a legal battle against Depp after the newspaper labeled him a "wife-beater". 

"The judge’s ruling makes it a lot easier for news outlets to use similar depictions when referring to Depp’s stormy two-year marriage to actress Amber Heard, creating a PR headache for the studio," the report reads.

The studio had allegedly wanted to see the outcome of the court case before making a decision to recast Depp. Following the verdict, Depp released a statement, reading: "I wish to let you know that I have been asked to resign by Warner Bros from my role as Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts and I have respected and agreed to that request."

Though Depp had only filmed one scene for Fantastic Beasts 3, the studio allegedly had to pay out an "eight-figure salary" to the actor, due to his so-called pay-or-play contract. Jude Law, who plays a young Albus Dumbledore in the series, later confirmed that Depp had filmed scenes, saying: “It was unusual for me because, in fact, on this particular role, Johnny had actually only done a day’s