With just under a month to go until the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the new instalment to the Harry Potter universe, it has been confirmed that Johnny Depp will star opposite Eddie Redmayne in the film’s upcoming sequel.
The A-List celebrity is surely a massive scoop for the film series, which has been written by J.K. Rowling and directed by David Yates. The role Depp will be playing has been a closely kept secret, but he is tipped to make a small cameo appearance in the first Fantastic Beasts film, which hits cinemas later this month.
Deadline reports Depp’s role as ‘co-starring’ alongside Eddie Redmayne, who is playing “mazoologist” Newt Scamander in the film series. Some outlets are rumouring that Depp could portray villain Gellert Grindelwald, a dark wizard before the days of Lord Voldemort, and regularly mentioned in the Harry Potter series. The childhood nemesis of Albus Dumbledore, Grindelwald was partly responsible for the death of Dumbledore’s infant sister Ariana. He even made a cameo appearance in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I, as Voldemort murders an imprisoned Grindelwald (here portrayed by Michael Byrne) in his search for the Elder Wand.
Last month, Warner Bros’ intention to turn Fantastic Beasts into a five movie saga was detailed, to mixed reactions from fans after the film was previously speculated to be a trilogy. Also revealed today was the news that Fantastic Beasts 2 will move the action partly to Paris; a fact that supports the Grindelwald theory, as he is told be ‘terrorising Europe’ at the time of the saga.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them hits cinemas on 18th November. Its sequel, starring Eddie Redmayne and Johnny Depp, is speculated to film early next year.
