Mads Mikkelsen opens up about being Johnny Depp's replacement

Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen wishes he could’ve talked to Johnny Depp about replacing him in the Harry Potter spin-off franchise Fantastic Beasts after Depp lost the role days after losing his libel lawsuit against a tabloid last year. 

Talking to The Sunday Times, Mikkelsen finally opened up about his much-talked-about move to the franchise as the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, a role Depp essayed for the first two instalments.

“I mean, obviously, they were going to do the film, and obviously he was not involved anymore. But I didn’t have a dog in that fight,” he said.

Subtly referencing the tumultuous year that Depp has had, the Hannibal actor said, “I don’t know what happened (in his private life), and I don’t know if it was fair, him losing the job, but I just knew that the show was going on, and I would’ve loved to have talked to him about it if I had the chance, but I just don’t know him in that sense.”

Mikkelsen added that the studio was in a hurry to recast the role when they called him and he liked the script so he said yes. “I know it was controversial for many people, but that’s just the way it plays out once in a while,” he said.

The 55-year-old actor also shared that he is planning to put his own spin on the role, saying, “I didn’t want to copy what Johnny had done. I think he’s a masterful actor, so copying him would’ve been creative suicide.”

“I had to figure out something that was definitely my own, and yet also act as a bridge to what he had done. My take is different, and the look is a little different, but we’ll have to wait for the film’s release to find out.”

The first Fantastic Beasts movie was released in 2016 and was following by a sequel in 2018. The third instalment remains unnamed as of yet and is slated for a July 2022 release.