Johnny Depp Opens Up About His Firing from "Fantastic Beasts"

The actor appeared in two films of the franchise and had already begun work on the third. But like a bolt from the blue, news came of his removal from the project.

Five years after those unpleasant events, the actor revealed in an interview with The Telegraph exactly how it went down. "It happened instantly – right in the middle of working on the film. They told me: 'We'd like you to leave.' But essentially, they wanted me to just 'retire' altogether," Depp admitted, adding that he simply told the producers to go to hell in response.

Johnny Depp in Fantastic Beasts 2 — Johnny Depp recalls being fired from Fantastic Beasts

"There's too much of me to just 'kill' off like that. If you think you can cause me more pain than I've already been through, you're deeply mistaken," Johnny recalled his words. The zoomboola.com editorial team reminds readers that Depp played the dark wizard Grindelwald in the first two Fantastic Beasts films, but was replaced by Mads Mikkelsen in the third movie. The reason for Depp's dismissal was the scandal with his ex-wife Amber Heard, who accused the actor of violence and abuse. In the end, Johnny cleared his name in court, after which his film career resumed.