Earlier this month, Johnny Depp resigned from the Fantastic Beasts franchise after he lost a court battle against a UK newspaper. He played villain Grindewald in the Harry Potter prequel series and was due to reprise the role in the upcoming Fantastic Beasts 3 before Warner Bros. asked him to resign.
Jude Law reacted to this decision in a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight while promoting his new movie The Nest. “It’s an enormous film,” he said of Fantastic Beasts, “and there are many, many layers to it. It’s probably one of the biggest productions I’ve ever worked on. And in a situation like this, you defer to the studio. That’s all you can do. Because you have to turn up and play your part.”
He added: “It was unusual for me because, in fact, on this particular role, Johnny had actually only done a day’s filming, I think, on his own.”
Law joined the franchise for 2018’s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindewald, playing a younger incarnation of Albus Dumbledore, the Hogwarts headmaster played by Richard Harris and Michael Gambon in the original Harry Potter series.
“In a franchise like this, it’s the studio and the company that make the big decisions,” he emphasised. “And you have to go along with those, because we’re just a member of the team.”
Fantastic Beasts 3 was originally scheduled for release in November 2021, but was pushed back to summer 2022 after the news of Depp’s resignation. While we wait, you can check out the best Netflix movies to watch right now.
