Ever since we first learned that Johnny Depp will appear in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them before taking on a larger role in the sequel, speculation about who he’ll play has been running rampant. The two most popular suggestions have been Albus Dumbledore and the villainous Gellert Grindelwald, a mysterious character with ties to The Deathly Hallows.
Well, thanks to director David Yates, we now know that Depp will indeed play Grindelwald.
“The whole principal of casting the movie was go with the best actor. Go for the most inspired, interesting, right fit for that character. And as we approached Grindelwald we thought, ‘Who’s going to take this in an interesting direction?’ In this business, it’s a weird old business. You’re brilliant one week, people are saying odd things the next, you go up and down. But no one takes away your pure talent. Johnny Depp is a real artist. He’s created several characters who have really resonated in our popular culture. He’s a really brilliant, brilliant actor. We were excited about seeing what he would do with this guy, the character.”
He’s fearless; he’s imaginative; he’s ambitious,” the Fantastic Beasts filmmaker continued. “We thought he would do something fun and special. So we went for him, purely on that selfish basis. We don’t care if he’s famous or not famous. We just know he’s interesting.”
It appears as if the Fantastic Beasts franchise will focus on the villain while he was at the height of his power with the Elder Wand, something we know Voldemort would eventually acquire from him. His appearance explains why Dumbledore will show up in the sequel too.
As for where the action will move in the future, it sounds like America won’t be a permanent setting for Fantastic Beasts moving forward. “We do go back to the U.K. in the second film as well–it’s U.K. and Paris. I’m not sure where Jo is setting the rest of the movies, but they’ll be European-centric. I think it will be difficult to ignore America, but the next one is predominately Europe.” Stay tuned for more on these movies in the coming few weeks.
