It’s been over a week since Warner Bros. issued a statement announcing that Johnny Depp was stepping away from Fantastic Beasts 3 in the wake of losing his libel case against The Sun.
A lot of disgruntled fans, both from the Wizarding World and the Pirates of the Caribbean star’s own legion of supporters, have been campaigning to see the actor reinstated. Some are even saying that they’ll boycott the threequel if Depp isn’t in it. This might be a worrying turn of events for the company, too, since the previous movies didn’t imitate the success of the Harry Potter franchise, so they’re not really box office mojos. It also goes without saying that even the critical consensus doesn’t seem to favor J.K. Rowling’s new spinoff series, which is why the ramifications will probably be disastrous for Eddie Redmayne’s third outing as Newt Scamander.
Of course, alongside the protagonist in the upcoming threequel will once again be a young Albus Dumbledore, played by Jude Law. The chemistry between the future Headmaster of Hogwarts and the villain Grindelwald was an important aspect of the second installment, something that’ll definitely go through some change now that they want to recast the latter. But how does the actor himself feel about this transition?
Well, in a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, Law weighed in on his co-star’s dismissal from Fantastic Beasts 3 and called it “unusual,” saying the following:
“[It] was unusual for me because, in fact, on this particular role, Johnny had actually only done a day’s filming, I think, on his own. In a franchise like this, it’s the studio and the company that make the big decisions. And you have to go along with those, because we’re just a member of the team.”
“It’s an enormous film, and there are many, many layers to it. It’s probably one of the biggest productions I’ve ever worked on. And in a situation like this, you defer to the studio. That’s all you can do. Because you have to turn up and play your part.”
That’s certainly one way to look at it, though we’re not exactly sure if Depp’s fans share this sentiment. In any case, despite petitions gathering steam and a loud cry for the actor to be brought back, it seems that Johnny’s time in the Fantastic Beasts franchise is now at an end. And we can only hope that the former Pirates of the Caribbean star is able to put all this behind him soon and move on with his career.