Honored at the Sarajevo Festival, Mads Mikkelsen returned to his replacement for Johnny Depp in “Fantastic Beasts 3”. And hinted that a return of the star of “Pirates of the Caribbean” did not seem impossible to him.
Who could have predicted this statement from Mads Mikkelsen? Passing through the Sarajevo Festival, where he received the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award for his entire career, the Danish actor took part in a questions answers with the audience. And there was, unsurprisingly, Fantastic Beasts 3, where he replaced Johnny Depp as the villainous Grindelwald.
In November 2020, Johnny Depp lost his defamation lawsuit against the tabloid The Sun, who had accused him of domestic violence. Warner then decided to do without his services for the third episode of Fantastic Beasts, and entrusted his role to Mads Mikkelsen, who admits that the situation was “very intimidating”. And does not rule out handing over.
“Things have changed – because he won the case – so we’ll see if he comes back. He might.” After having had the faces of Colin Farrell, Johnny Depp and Mads Mikkelsen, will Grindelwald change his mind again in a possible fourth opus? Obviously, this is only pure speculation on the part of the interpreter of Hannibal in the series of the same name, and not a real info that he wanted to share.
WILL THE SAGA CONTINUE?
Especially since three major obstacles could hinder this possible return: if he won his defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard, the verdict does not change the conclusions of the one brought against The Sun, and at the end of which he was found guilty of domestic violence. Then there is the pride of the star who, unless he pays a very large check, will probably not agree to work again with the studio that ousted him.
And the very vague status of the franchise whose action takes place before that of Harry Potter. After an encouraging start (814 million dollars in revenue worldwide for the first opus, in 2016), the saga has since continued to disappoint, and the latest episode to date only garnered 405 million greenbacks.
Initially envisioned as a five-part story, the Fantastic Beasts franchise might not come to an end. And the very open end of Dumbledore’s Secrets suggests that the writers and producers do not want to take the risk of opening new doors without having the assurance of being able to close them afterwards.