Mads Mikkelsen Talks About Replacing Johnny Depp In Fantastic Beasts 3

Mads Mikkelsen has spoken up about how he's replacing Johnny Depp in the Fantastic Beasts series. He told Collider that he intends to portray the evil Grindelwald in a different way than Depp did; otherwise he would be making a big mistake.

Mikkelsen said there should be a "bridge" between Depp's Grindelwald and his own, but he won't try to copy what the Pirates of the Caribbean star did.

"Nobody's interested in me going in there and trying to copy anything; that would be creative suicide immediately, especially when it's been done before and masterfully," he said. "So everybody's expecting us to find a different path. Having said that, we need a bridge between what he did and what I'm gonna do, so those bridges you have to find together, whether it's a certain look, whether it's a certain attitude in certain situations, but you have to make it your own. Anything else would be plainly just creatively stupid."

Mikkelsen was hired to play Grindelwald in 2020 after Depp resigned from Fantastic Beasts 3 amid his messy lawsuit with Amber Heard. Depp is said to have been paid an eight-figure fee ($10 million or more) as part of his exit package after reportedly filming just one scene for the forthcoming magical movie.

Grindelwald is not the first Harry Potter character to be recast, as Dumbledore was originally played by Richard Harris until his passing. After that, Michael Gambon came in to play the character in his own way that took the spirit of Harris' portrayal but with his own style.

Mikkelsen recently starred in the Danish movie Another Round, which won Best International Feature Film at the Oscars. The movie is now being adapted for English, with Leonardo DiCaprio said to be eyed for the lead role.

As for the Fantastic Beasts series, the new movie is slated for release on July 15, 2022. The film will see the return of Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander and Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore.