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Mads Mikkelsen may replace Johnny Depp as Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts

By Dan Selcke

ROME, ITALY - OCTOBER 20: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been converted to black and white.) Mads Mikkelsen attends the "Druk (Another Round)" Press Conference during the 15th Rome Film Festival on October 20, 2020 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Elisabetta Villa/Getty Images for RFF)
ROME, ITALY - OCTOBER 20: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been converted to black and white.) Mads Mikkelsen attends the "Druk (Another Round)" Press Conference during the 15th Rome Film Festival on October 20, 2020 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Elisabetta Villa/Getty Images for RFF) /
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If the Fantastic Beasts movies want us to forget Johnny Depp, they’ll have to get someone fantastic to replace him. Wait, they wanna hire who? Oh, that could work.

Johnny Depp resigned from playing the dark wizard Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts movies just days ago, and already Warner Bros. is looking for his replacement. According to Deadline, they’re talking to none other than Hannibal frontman Mads Mikkelsen.

Now, these are just early talks — nothing is confirmed — but this is such a good choice it’s almost enough to make you forget that Depp was forced out of the role amid a new stream of controversy stemming from his alleged physical abuse of ex-wife Amber Heard…almost.

Still, Mikkelsen was made to play creepy villain parts like this. He just has the face for it..and the eyes, and the voice, and the attitude. In Hannibal, he even has simmering sexual tension with main character Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), which kind of mirrors (maybe) the relationship between Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law), whom in the pages of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows are heavily implied to have had an affair before becoming enemies. Surely the new movies will have to explore that part of their relationship eventually, no?

If Mikkelsen is cast, will that be enough to save a franchise that is increasingly flagging at the box office and largely reviled by the critical community? Will it be enough to distract from the other personal scandal plaguing the franchise: writer J.K. Rowling’s full-on embrace of transphobia.

Honestly, I don’t know. But I am now more interested than I was before.

Next. Johnny Depp will still be paid at least $10 million for Fantastic Beasts 3. dark

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