Johnny Depp says Warner Bros. pushed him to ''retire'' from 'Fantastic Beasts' after libel case

Highlights:

• Johnny Depp says Warner Bros. asked him to resign from Fantastic Beasts in 2020, but he felt they wanted him to retire.
• The actor had just lost a libel case against The Sun, which referred to him as a “wife-beater.”
• Depp was replaced by Mads Mikkelsen in The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022).
• He has now returned to directing after 20 years with his new film Modì, releasing on 11 July in the UK.

Hollywood actor Johnny Depp has opened up about being removed from the Fantastic Beasts franchise, saying he felt the studio’s request for his resignation was effectively a push into retirement. Depp made the comments in a recent interview while promoting his new directorial project Modì: Three Days on the Wing of Madness.

In 2020, shortly after losing a high-profile libel case against The Sun over claims of domestic abuse during his marriage to Amber Heard, Depp was asked to step down from the Harry Potter spin-off series. Speaking about the moment, Depp said, “It literally stopped in a millisecond, like, while I was doing the movie. They said, ‘We’d like you to resign.’ But what was really in my head was, they wanted me to retire.”

Depp returns to directing with Modì after more than two decadesGetty Images

Depp on his forced exit from Fantastic Beasts

Depp had filmed only one scene for the third instalment, The Secrets of Dumbledore, before Warner Bros. asked him to leave. He announced his exit via Instagram, saying he had “respected and agreed” to the request. However, in hindsight, Depp revealed his private reaction was far less diplomatic: “F--- you. There’s far too many of me to kill. If you think you can hurt me more than I’ve already been hurt, you’re gravely mistaken.”

He went on to describe how the fallout from the court case affected his career, saying he had been “shunned, dumped, booted, deep-sixed, cancelled, however you want to define it.”

Depp says being pushed out felt like “they wanted me to retire”Getty Images

Mads Mikkelsen on stepping into Depp’s role

After Depp’s departure, Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen was cast as Gellert Grindelwald. Speaking at the Sarajevo Film Festival in 2022, Mikkelsen admitted replacing Depp was “intimidating,” calling him “an amazing actor.” He said he made a conscious choice not to imitate Depp’s portrayal, as doing so would have been “creative suicide.”

Mikkelsen added that while Depp’s fans were kind, they were also “stubborn,” and he understood their emotional investment in the original casting.

Depp’s legal battles and the fallout

Depp was originally dropped following the 2020 verdict that The Sun’s “wife-beater” headline was “substantially true.” But in 2022, he won a separate US defamation case against Heard over a Washington Post op-ed, with a jury awarding him over £8 million (₹84 crore) in damages. Heard received £1.6 million (₹16.8 crore) in her countersuit.

Reflecting on the legal process, Depp said he felt compelled to fight back publicly: “If I don’t try to represent the truth, it will be like I’ve actually committed the acts I’m accused of. And my kids will have to live with that.”

Amber Heard and Johnny Depp watch as the jury leaves the courtroomGetty Images

What’s next for Johnny Depp?

While Depp has kept a relatively low profile in Hollywood since 2020, he’s slowly returning to creative work. He made his live-action comeback in the French film Jeanne du Barry (2023), where he played Louis XV. Now, Modì, his first directorial venture in over two decades, is set to hit UK cinemas on 11 July.

The biographical drama follows Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani over a turbulent 48-hour period in World War I-era Paris. It stars Riccardo Scamarcio, Al Pacino, and Antonia Desplat.

Following Modì, Depp is expected to return to acting in Day Drinker, a Lionsgate action-comedy alongside Penélope Cruz and Madelyn Cline. In the film, Depp plays a mysterious yacht guest with ties to a dangerous criminal underworld.