Warner Bros. has been building its house on a foundation of Harry Potter for almost 20 years now. It's been a solid formula for the studio, but the last year has shaken the foundation. Author J.K. Rowling's problematic tweets have caused the company to distance itself from the author, and this week the studio formally announced that Johnny Depp would be exiting Fantastic Beasts 3, where he was set to reprise his role as Gellert Grindelwald. Now, though, WB is reportedly eyeing actor Mads Mikkelsen to replace him.

　　Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen is at the top of the short list to join the Fantastic Beasts 3 cast, according to a report from Deadline. Deadline's sources say that Mikkelsen is Fantastic Beasts director David Yates' first choice to play Grindelwald, and that he's already in early talks to do so.

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　　Now Playing: Who Is Gellert Grindelwald? | Fantastic Beasts

　　Depp, who played the character in the first two movies, found himself pushed out of the role earlier this week after losing a British court battle against a tabloid that labeled him a "wife beater" in connection to his marriage to actress Amber Heard. Warner Bros. asked Depp to leave after he'd filmed just one scene last month in London. Depp isn't hurting--the studio is apparently paying out an eight-figure salary to the actor for his single scene.

　　Mads has become a fan favorite actor in recent years thanks to roles like Dr. Hannibal Lecter in the fan-favorite Hannibal show, Galen Erso in Rogue One, and even the undying soldier Clifford Unger the Hideo Kojima-directed game Death Stranding. The talks are, once again, early, but if chatter on social media is anything to go by, this casting decision would be well received.

　　If Mikkelsen takes the role, he has a lot of work to do. We were cool on the previous entry, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, thanks to the way it mistreated Harry Potter lore, ignored the rules the previous nine movies had established, and gave Depp very little to do with the character that Mikkelsen might be taking over. Then again, Mikkelsen might be the only thing that'll get us watching Fantastic Beasts 3.

　　Eric Frederiksen on Google+