Earlier this month, reports broke that Mads Mikkelsen would be replacing Johnny Depp in the role of scheming dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald for the third Fantastic Beasts movie. The actor himself played coy about the idea after the news went live, but Warner Bros. has made it official: Mikkelsen has the gig.
Fantastic Beasts 3, which has David Yates back in the director's chair, has faced a few challenges, including a pandemic-forced production delay, shifting talent schedules and, more recently, Warners pushing Depp from the Grindelwald job after his personal legal issues. It will now not make a planned November 2021 release, instead apparating to a July 2022 date.
The plot is mostly being kept quiet for now, though Eddie Redmayne's Newt Scamander and Jude Law's Albus Dumbledore, plus their various friends, will be facing off against more of Grindelwald's machinations.