Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. For today’s video, I’ve got some
interesting news that just came out which effects the Fantastic Beasts film franchise.
It turns out Johnny Depp, the actor that plays the MAIN antagonist in the films- Grindelwald,
has been fired by Warner Bros. Just today, November 6th, he left the following post on
his Instagram:
“In light of recent events, I would like to make the following short statement.
Firstly, I’d like to thank everybody who has gifted me with their support and loyalty.
Secondly, 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.
Finally, I wish to say this.
The surreal judgement of the court in the U.K. will not change my fight to tell the
truth and I confirm that I plan to appeal.
My resolve remains strong and I intend to prove that the allegations against me are
false. My life and career will not be defined by this moment in time.
Thank you for reading,
Sincerely,
Johnny Depp.”
The news comes after the closing of a legal battle betweeen Depp and a UK newspaper over
libel claims that Depp was abusive to his wife.
Grindelwald’s character is integral to the Harry Potter series. He is the MAIN antagonist-
the terrorizer of the wizarding world- and without him, there’s not much of a film
left. So now you’re probably asking yourself- will the films continue?
Rest assured, the films will continue. We heard just earlier last month that filming
had begun on Fantastic Beasts 3, and given that filming has only just resumed, I’m
sure they went ahead without him. I’ll also say this: his casting was never exceedingly
popular to begin with, as many people just thought “Hey, that’s Johnny Depp” and
not “Oooooh, that’s Grindelwald”. Even though I learned to like him in the role,
I don’t think that he is irreplaceable by any means, and I’m interested to see who
will be recast in the role moving forward. We’ve also got 3 more films to go, so we’re
probably going to become more accustomed to the new actor.
Warner Bros made the following statement in response to dropping the actor:
“Johnny Depp will leave the Fantastic Beasts franchise. We thank him for his work on the
films so far. Fantastic Beasts 3 is currently in production, and the role of Gellert Grindelwald
will be rescheduled. The film will hit theaters in the summer of 2022.”
It’s interesting that we’re only just now seeing this summer 2022 release date,
as previously the film was reported to be released Nov 2021. In fact, the film was ORIGINALLY
supposed to come out this November, but for reasons like: a script rewrite and covid,
the film had to be pushed back. This is the first I’ve heard about this summer 2022
date, but oh well, I’m just happy that the film is still going forward- and the magic
will continue.
In 2016 we got ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to find Them’ the first installment of the
5 part film series that introduced us to a wizarding world during a different time- placing
an emphasis on all sorts of new and never before seen characters, creatures and places.
We saw the wizarding world in America for the first time, creatures like ‘Nifflers’,
new magic, and even a new antagonist.
In 2018, the follow-up to the first film and the second part of the 5 film series was released
- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. The Crimes of Grindelwald expanded on this
new world further, but, in order to make things even more interesting, began to incorporate
elements of the wizarding world that we already knew and loved in the form of characters,
places, and dialogue. The film ended on a pretty big cliffhanger, and the films were
clearly not released without the intention of completing the 5 part series, and so many
questions remained unanswered when the credits began to roll.
All five films were originally supposed to be released in the following order:
2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024
So now we’re probably looking at
2016, 2018, 2022, 2024, 2026
And I guess the only good news about that is that, in a weird way, prolonging the movies
keeps the magic alive a bit.
I guess the next question is.. WHO will be the next Gellert Grindelwald? Leave a comment
down below.
Until next time It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget
to live