Warner Bros. has announced (via Indiewire) that Mads Mikkelsen will officially replace Johnny Depp in the role of antagonist Gellert Grindelwald in the upcoming Fantastic Beasts 3.

The sequel to 2018’s Fantastic Beasts The Crimes Of Grindelwald is currently in production Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden outside of London.

Mikkelsen is joined by returning cast members Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Callum Turner, William Nadylam, Poppy Corby-Tuech, Jessica Williams, Victoria Yeates, and Jude Law.

Johnny Depp announced his resignation earlier this month on Instagram, revealing that he was asked to do so by Warner Bros. following his loss in a libel case against The Sun regarding the publication calling him a “wife-beater”.

Fantastic Beasts 3 is slated to premiere on 15 July 2022.

Mikkelsen is no stranger to being a dark wizard, considering that he portrayed the dark sorcerer Kaecilius in 2016’s Doctor Strange.

In the meantime, check out our review of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald here, or head on over here for my scathing critique of the movie’s utter disregard for established Wizarding World lore.