It tangled Spider-Man and dethroned The Crown – but keeps Bond alive. Now Fantastic Beasts must replace Johnny Depp
At the climax of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Gellert Grindelwald, the ultimate threat to peace in the Wizarding World, is revealed. Having supplanted the form of Percival Graves, a high-ranking wizard in the American Ministry of Magic played by Colin Farrell, the character makes his entrance as the music thuds and the camera weaves … and there sits Johnny Depp. Someviewers shrugged their shoulders. Others wished Farrell had stayed.
Yet Depp remained in the role – and gave a lively performance in the follow-up, The Crimes of Grindelwald – or he did until this week, when he “stepped down” following his failed libel case against the Sun. On a purely commercial level, the Fantastic Beasts franchise could not afford another PR issue. After JK Rowling’s Twitter wars and the footage of Ezra Miller appearing to choke a female fan, the latest news concerning Depp leaves the series in a precarious state. Whether or not it ends up being Mads Mikkelsen who takes up Grindelwald’s wand as predicted, Warner Bros has been left searching for a lead actor midway through a five-part saga.
